Journeys
by Catgirl the Crazy
Summary: Our heroes run into trouble again, as always. Amelia searches for a missing Zelgadis, while Gourry and Lina must deal with an unexpected bandit problem. Things are more complicated than they seem...
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"You're leaving aren't you?" Amelia looked up from her packing at the sound of her sister's voice. Gracia stood in the doorframe, arms crossed. A month had passed since her return, but Amelia still could hardly believe how much her big sister had changed. The black leather bikini she always wore didn't help matters.

"Yes," Amelia replied simply. Gracia said nothing, but the look on her face clearly stated that she wanted to know why. Amelia looked back down at the traveling bag which lay in her bed.

"It's Mr. Zelgadis," she said finally. "He hasn't written in four months. Before then he wrote regularly, and never gave any indication that he would have to stop."

Gracia frowned. "Amelia, there could be a lot of reasons for that. What about the bracelet gave him? Couldn't you use it to scry for him from the astral side?"

Amelia shook her head. "I already tried. I couldn't find him at all! Something must've happened to him."

Gracia sighed, looking resigned. "Then I suppose there's no stopping you, is there?" Amelia's determined expression told her the answer to that.

"I wish I could come with you, but…" Gracia trailed off, but Amelia understood. No one had been more emotional about Gracia's return than Prince Philionel, and they both knew he wasn't going to let Gracia out of his sight again for at least a year.

"You know Daddy won't like this."

"It's for the sake of Justice, Gracia. Daddy will understand."

* * *

The elder Seyruun Princess watched sadly as her sister grew smaller and smaller, traveling farther and farther away from the Holy City. _I wish I could be with you sis…_ Gracia missed traveling. She missed her old life on the open road. _I miss being Naga.

* * *

_

A/N: Greetings earthlings! Behold, my newest fic! Sorry for the uber short first chapter. The other ones will be longer, I promise! Anyhow, I've already got the first few chapters written up, so I'll be updating weekly, for a little while at least. YAY! I know the title is lame. Couldn't think of a better one…

A brief explanation about Gracia/Naga: I needed to give Amelia someone to talk to, and Gracia fit the bill best. As for that last bit, that was a plot idea I came up with to explain why Gracia/Naga was acting so OOC. Basically, Gracia is who she was before she left, and Naga is the new identity she created for herself while she was traveling. I have strange ideas….

R&R s'il vous plait!


	2. Frying Bandits is its Own Reward

**Chapter 1: Frying Bandits is its Own Reward**

Gracia had been right when she'd said Phil wouldn't like the idea of Amelia leaving. It had taken nearly an hour, but in the end she'd managed to convince him in exchange for writing often, if only to let them know she was alright. She'd planned on doing that anyways.

She left the next morning, and was finally on the road. Amelia gazed happily at the scenery. "It such a nice day," she said to herself. "I'm surprised people don't come here more often." At that moment, two dozen bandits emerged from the trees on either side of the road. _I suppose that would explain it._

"Give us all your money if you want to live!" Amelia scowled, for three reasons. One, there villains who needed to have Justice dispensed upon them. Two, doing that would her down in her quest to find Mr. Zelgadis. And three, the bandits were blocking her path to all the nearby trees, meaning she couldn't deliver her justice speech properly. _Unless…_

"Levitation!" Amelia floated 8 feet up into the air. The bandit's boss obviously misinterpreted this as an attempt to run away, so he shouted for all the bandits shoot her down. Strangely enough, he'd completely forgotten that they had no archers or sorcerers.

Amelia took a deep breath and began. "HEAR ME VILLAINS WHOSE HEARTS HAVE TURNED TO DARKNESS!" she bellowed. "THE SUN IN THE HEAVENS MAY FORGIVE YOUR EVIL, BUT I, AMELIA, DO NOT! IF YOU DO NOT REPENT YOUR WICKED WAYS, THEN I SHALL-!"

"Shut up, will you?!" one of the bandits interrupted. Amelia twitched. No one interrupted her while giving a speech!

"BURST RONDO!" The area would smell of fried bandit for days.

* * *

Amelia sighed happily as she dug into her meal. It was only the first day, and already her quest was getting of to a good start. In spite of the delay with the bandits, she'd managed to get to the first town before nightfall, and she'd been able to further the cause of Justice along the way. 

After she finished, Amelia took out a piece of paper, and examined the map drawn on it. She'd spent the past week or so pouring through Zelgadis' last letters, trying to determine where he had been and where he might have been going before he stopped writing.

_Hmmmmm, the last letter Mr. Zelgadis wrote was mailed from Stone Ridge._ The dot representing Stone Ridge on the map was circled in dark ink. _I should probably go there first, and ask if anyone knows where he went. It'll probably take three weeks to get there on foot._ Amelia pursed her lips. She wasn't entirely sure why,but the idea of waiting three weeks before she could really start to investigate did not appeal to her at all. Something told her she couldn't afford to wait that long.

As she consulted the map, Amelia couldn't help but overhear the conversation going on at the table nearby. "Did you hear about what happened to the Tornado Bandits this morning?" one man asked his companions eagerly.

"No, what?" asked the woman sitting next to him.

"Someone defeated the Tornado Bandit Gang!"

There were murmurs of surprise, and another man said disbelievingly, "You're joking."

"No, I'm not, someone beat the snot out of them single-handedly this morning!" replied the first man. (It was at this point Amelia realized they were talking about her).

"Alright, now I _know_ you're exaggerating," said a woman.

"I'm not, I swear!" the first man insisted. "I saw it myself! Well, it was from a distance, but I could still see the whole thing just fine! There were all these explosions and other magical stuff!"

"Y-you don't think it was the bandit killer, d-do you?" the second man asked fearfully.

"Lina Inverse?" said the woman. "Nah. This whole town would be a smoking crater by now if it was her."

_Oh dear,_ Amelia thought woefully, _I hope I don't get a reputation like Miss Lina's. _And speaking of the red-haired sorceress, Amelia wished she could have Lina and Gourry with her on her quest. Not only would they be a great help to her, but she sorely missed having their companionship. Rarely had she ever gone adventuring without that strange duo and/or Mr. Zelgadis at her side. In fact, now that she thought about it, she hadn't traveled alone in years…

_Still, _she thought,_ Daddy always said that being an Ally of Justice means being by yourself sometimes. But as long as you have Justice on your side, you're never really alone…

* * *

_

A/N: Yes, I know I said I'd update weekly, but it's not my fault (for once!) The website decided to be evil and not let me upload documents. Provided nothing else happens, the next chapter will be uploaded this Friday.

Amelia's ramblings on Justice are so fun to write. Not much else to say, except R&R!


	3. Mistaken Indentity is Kind of Annoying

**Chapter 2: Mistaken Identity is Kind of Annoying**

The next day, Amelia had a stroke of luck. A merchant wagon that had been spending the night in the town happened to be traveling in the same direction Amelia was. They agreed to take her to the trading city of Sheston (Which was close to Stone Ridge) in exchange for hiring her as a bodyguard. Better yet, they expected to get there in 10 days at the most.

Amelia sat in the back of the wagon, feeling rather bored. It had been an uneventful 4 days since she had left the town, and she'd had very little to do since then. In all, she was traveling with two merchants. One was a gruff, elderly-looking bearded man, named Garrett, who spent most of the trip manning the reins. The other, Amelia gathered, was his grandson, Kito, a soft-spoken young boy who always had his nose in a book (though where he kept getting them from Amelia had no idea). The only thing the pair of them seemed to have in common was that they only spoke when they deemed it absolutely necessary. From Amelia's perspective, they couldn't get to Sheston fast enough.

_Still,_ she reasoned, _I should probably consider myself lucky. We've made excellent progress. I'll get to Stone Ridge in the half the time I originally thought._ But there was still a nagging doubt in the back of her mind. In her experience, this sort of luck was the kind that was too good to last. So something bad should be happening very soon…

Right on cue there was an explosion. Kito screamed like a little girl, and in front of the wagon Amelia heard the horse neigh in terror as Garrett swore loudly. From somewhere outside the wagon came the sound of insane laughter. The wagon spun out of control, and Amelia quickly chanted Levitation and flew out of the wagon just as it crashed on the side of the road.

The source of the insane laughter turned out to be one of the bandits from the bandit gang Amelia destroyed a few days earlier. The Tornadoes she believed they were called. This guy was probably the leader of the Tornadoes.

He grinned maniacally and pointed a finger at Amelia. "You!" he shouted. "I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to my gang you little witch!" he cackled some more, before adding: "And don't think you can beat was with your little sorcery tricks either! This time, I brought a sorcerer of my own with me!" He gestured towards a tall man wearing long flowing robes standing next to him, and grinned evilly. "Lina Inverse, prepare to die!"

Amelia blinked and looked around wildly. Was Miss Lina somewhere nearby?

"Duclis," the robed man said sharply. "This isn't Lina Inverse."

The bandit looked puzzled. "She isn't?"

"No," the sorcerer shook his head. "She doesn't fit the description at all. Lina Inverse is red-haired, flat-chested, and dresses more like a sorceress."

Duclis pouted. "You mean to tell me you caused that explosion, and I made that whole evil villain speech, all for nothing?"

The sorcerer looked back at Amelia and smiled icily. "Not necessarily. You are Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun, correct?"

Instead of responding, Amelia unleashed a volley of Flare Arrows. It wasn't that she was so against revealing her identity. It was just that she'd chanted the Flare Arrows in the middle of Duclis and the sorcerer's little banter, and it had been at the precise moment he'd asked her that she was forced to release the spell.

The sorcerer levitated into the air, bringing a panicky Duclis with him just as the fiery arrows hit the exact spot he'd been standing in. "Well," he said mildly, "Regardless of who you are, you are certainly a formidable opponent. My name is Morris. I'm sure we'll meet again." He switched to Ray Wing and vanished into the night.

While Amelia had been dealing with Duclis and Morris, Kito and Garrett had managed to get out of the fallen wagon to safety. They hadn't escaped the crash without injury, but it was nothing Amelia couldn't handle.

Amelia climbed inside her bedroll and gazed at the stars, pondering the day's events. Why had Duclis and Morris attacked her? She already knew that it was partly because Duclis wanted revenge. But that didn't explain Morris. He couldn't be a bandit himself. Because of their magical abilities, sorcerers were capable enough to make a living through far more profitable means than banditry. But he might be a mercenary, hired by the bandits… Yes, that seemed much more likely.

Yet even with that in mind, there were still things Amelia didn't understand. For instance, when Duclis and Morris had realized she wasn't Lina, Duclis had worried their efforts were "all for nothing." That didn't make sense. If revenge for beating them up was his real goal in attacking her, why should it matter who she really was? Unless they had some other reason for attacking her. Or rather, some other reason for wanting to attack Lina.

It was all very confusing, and Amelia couldn't make sense of it. She wondered what she should do next. Warn Lina, or continue looking for Zelgadis? _Miss Lina can take care of herself,_ she decided finally. _I need to know Mr. Zelgadis is safe first._

* * *

A/N: Nothing much to say. Hope I've kept things in character. R&R please! 


	4. Lina and Gourrys Adventure

**Chapter 3: Lina and Gourry's Little Adventure**

(Yes, I'm aware that's a really lame title)

"Hey Lina?"

"Yes Gourry?"

"Where are we going again?"

Lina whacked him on the head for the eighteenth time that day. "How many times do I have to explain it you jellyfish?!" she roared.

"Sorry," Gourry whimpered, "But I keep forgetting."

Lina grumbled under her breath. "Fine, I'll explain it ONE more time, but after that you have to REMEMBER it, ok?!" Gourry nodded, fearful. "We. Are. Going. To. The. Schwenkfelder. Mountains. Gourry," Lina said slowly through clenched teeth.

Gourry suddenly snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! Isn't that where those temples of lost trivialization are?" He looked pleased with himself for remembering.

Lina sighed. "Civilization, Gourry," she corrected. "Lost civilization. Still, I suppose that pretty good, considering it's you we're talking about."

"Hey!" She ignored him, and neither said anything for a few minutes.

"Hey Lina?"

Lina eyed him warily, prepared for another mind-bendingly idiotic question. "Yes Gourry?"

"Where are we going again?"

She twitched. "DIL BRANDO!" At least she could relieve some stress. She'd been getting really frustrated lately. This region seemed completely devoid of something Lina had thought existed everywhere. Namely, bandits. They hadn't seen a single highwayman, nor had they heard about any recent brigand activity for the past few days. So, without any bandits to vent her frustrations on, she turned to her dear protector for stress relief.

Lina paused in the middle of pounding the snot out of Gourry and frowned. Suddenly she sensed a large group of presences in the vicinity. A moment later, a large crowd of bandits appeared, grinning toothily. Lina felt a pit of uneasiness in her stomach. Something wasn't right. Usually, your average bandit gang would have twenty or thirty members. A large one might have fifty. But there were well over a hundred here. Something was very, very, wrong.

_Looks like I was wrong about there being no bandits._

"Lina Inverse!" one of them barked. Lina supposed he was the leader. Behind her, she heard Gourry get up and quietly draw his blade. Lina did the same. "Prepare to die!" He gave a war cry and he and all the bandits charged at them. But Lina was ready for them.

"Mega Brando!" she released the spell she had started chanting as soon as she'd sensed the bandits' presence. **Ka-BOOM!** The resulting explosion wiped out a good chunk of the bandits. But there was still a large number remaining, and they kept on coming. She and Gourry frantically parried the oncoming attacks with theirs swords. Gourry was doing alright, but Lina had her work cut out for her just defending her self.

_It's not that they're skilled or anything,_ she thought. _There's just so darn many of em. _If she could chant another big spell, like Mega Brando, the fight would easily be decided. But the onslaught was too rapid for her to get in any serious chanting.

"Fireball!" The was another much smaller explosion as Lina managed to dispatch another handful of bandits. But they still kept coming.

_What I need,_ Lina thought, _Is some breathing room._ It hit her. _Of course!_ Lina quickly chanted a spell. "Ray Wing!"

"Wha-?! Lina, where are you going?!" Gourry called up, startled, but Lina didn't answer. She was too busy thinking up a strategy. Gourry could take care of himself. None of the spells Lina knew that would finish the bandits off in one shot could be cast while maintaining a flight spell. But there might be a way around that… it was risky, but it might work. It was worth a shot. Lina flew higher and higher into the air. Soon, the bandit gang was nothing more than a speck on the ground below. _This should be high enough,_ Lina thought. She released the Ray Wing spell.

Almost immediately, Lina began to fall. Faster and faster, she felt the wind in her face as the ground got closer, and the battle below got bigger. Already she was well into her chanting, though she could barely her own voice over the wind. "…by the power you and I possess!" Lina completed the spell, and paused just long enough to shriek "Gourry, move!" before releasing the spell.

"**_DRAGON SLAVE!_**" The resulting explosion not only dispatched most of the rest of the bandit, but it also buffeted Lina upwards a little, buying her the extra time she needed to chant a levitation spell. As Lina gently touched down in the smoking crater where a bandit gang used to be, she grinned and flashed the v-for-victory sign. "Another brilliant plan concocted by beautiful sorcery genius, Lina Inverse!"

Gourry stumbled over to her and coughed, slightly charred. "Hey Lina, mind giving me a little more warning next time?"

* * *

Morris sank into a chair and rubbed his temples. Today was turning into a really bad day. 

"That many men," Duclis said, awestruck. "All with a single spell?"

Morris grimly and slammed his fist on the table angrily. "I told them not to do it! Not to attack Inverse prematurely like this!"

The man sitting across from him gave the sorcerer a resentful look. "Can't say that I blame them. You said if we all joined forces, we'd be able to destroy that little witch. Well, we've joined forces, why won't you let us go kill her?"

Morris sighed. "I've already told you why, Bailard. Sheer numbers won't be enough, not if we want to make her really _suffer_ for all she's done to us. For that, we need to plan." He swiftly got up and left before Bailard could reply.

Perhaps a brief explanation is in order. Lina Inverse did not get a nickname like "bandit killer" for nothing. One can correctly infer from this that her enemies among the bandit population are numerous. But it's a well known fact that most bandits are morons, so for a long time they'd never been able to do anything about it. Until Morris came along. "Alone," he'd said to the bandit leaders, "You could never hope to defeat her. But together, along with my sorcery skills, she won't stand a chance." Thus, Operation Destroy Lina Inverse was born. That was 6 months ago.

_Bailard is an idiot,_ Morris thought disgustedly. _They all are. That fool thinks he's the one running things around here. He knows nothing about the subtle art of revenge._

_

* * *

_A/N: Yeah, I know I've been updating fast. I wanna get this thing finished by Christmas so I can include appropriately Christmassy bits if I want to. 

Something I forgot to mention about Duclis: Those of you who've read volume 5 of the Slayers novel series may remember a minor character named Duclis. There's no connection, I'm just borrowing the name.

Also, when Duclis said that Lina got all the bandits with a single spell, I'm aware that that's not how things really happened. He's just got really bad sources.

R&R please!


	5. Arrival at Stone Ridge

**Chapter 4: Arrival at Stone Ridge**

Amelia stabbed moodily at her potatoes with a fork. She was in Stone Ridge now (the inn more specifically), but the good news ended there. Of the people she'd talked to so far, most remembered Zelgadis very well (not surprising), but none seemed to know where he was going after he left.

_You'd think he'd have mentioned it to _someone, she thought. She was broken out of her sullen mood by a light tap on the shoulder.

Amelia turned around. A mouse-haired young boy of about 11 or 12 stood behind her. "E-excuse me, miss," he said timidly, "But I heard you were askin' about that chimera man who came through here a couple months ago."

Amelia cocked her head. "What about him?"

The boy took a deep breath. "Well, I heard you wanted to know where he went, and, well, I overheard him talking about the Cave Temples to me dad." And with that, he promptly bolted off.

Amelia blinked, caught off guard by his sudden departure. _Strange._ Well, at least she had a name now. _The Cave Temples._ Most sorcerers had heard of them. Supposedly built by a long-dead civilization, the Temples were said to contain thousands of spells that had been lost to humans for centuries, as well as many magical artifacts, one which was rumored to be "a source of infinite power." It was no real surprise that Zelgadis was going there. It also explained why he had come to this town, as the Temples were located in the Scwenkfelder Mountains, only a few miles north of here.

Amelia leapt up onto the table and pointed at the ceiling. "Now that the next destination in my Quest is clear, I must go there with all due haste!" she boomed to no one in particular. Several other occupants of the inn gave her one quick look before signaling for the check. She ignored them. "TO THE SCHWENKFELDER MOUNTAINS!"

Someone tugged at her pant-leg. Amelia looked down. It was the inn's proprietor, a plump middle-aged woman. "Sorry to interrupt ya, miss, but if yer goin' up to the mountains, you'd best be having these," she said, holding up a pair of what appeared to be tennis rackets.

* * *

_The next day…_

Amelia felt ridiculous. Bundled up in 10 layers of clothing, she walked awkwardly in the snowshoes. But she knew it would be even harder without them. So she trudged on.

According to the inn proprietor, she'd been very lucky. Apparently winter was coming late this year, so the mountain passes weren't _completely_ impassable yet. They were just _nearly_ impassable. It was a very fine distinction apparently. Amelia could barely see 3 feet in front of her, the snow was coming down so hard.

_This is impossible,_ she thought despairingly, _I'll never find Mr. Zelgadis in this. _

_Don't give up now!_ shouted a voice in her head. _With Justice on your side, you cannot fail!_

At that moment, the ground beneath her gave way. "Aiiiieeeee!" she screamed as she fell in a shower of cold snow down into the pit below, landing with a _thump._ It would have been more painful if not for the thick layers of clothing she wore.

Amelia groaned and sat up. Some snow had gotten into the cracks of her clothing and was starting to melt. Amelia shivered. _I hate it when that happens._ She tried looking around, but it was pitch black wherever she was. That problem was easily solved. "Lighting," she muttered. Instantly the area was illuminated with bright light. Amelia was in some kind of underground tunnel. She stared puzzled at the stone walls however. "These are too smooth to be natural," she muttered to herself, feeling the cold surface. "Could these..?"

She stared down the tunnel. She couldn't see where it came out, just pitch blackness. _Only one way to find out._

As Amelia continued down the tunnel, she suddenly felt an odd feeling of anxiety. Part of her felt dread at what lay at the tunnels end, while the other part felt urgency, that she needed to get there as fast as she could. Amelia broke into a run.

Soon, the tunnel opened up into a large chamber. It was mostly empty. At the center was an altar of some sort. There were statues placed at various points around it, but in the dim light Amelia couldn't tell what they weresupposed to be. She walked towards them for a closer look.

As she came nearer, Amelia noticed something odd. Most of the statues were situated around the alter, forming some kind of pattern. But one seemed strangely... out of place, not fitting in with the pattern. As Amelia stepped closer to it, it became more and more familiar, and she realized with a sickening jolt that it wasn't a statue at all. She froze in horror, completely numb.

"Mr. Zelgadis…"

* * *

A/N: Bwahahaha, cliffhanger. Funness. R&R please. 


	6. Awakening

**Chapter 5: Awakening**

There he stood before her, motionless. In one hand he held his broadsword, while the other was raised into spell casting position. Amelia threw her arms around him, sobbing. _It couldn't be…NO! Pull yourself together Amelia!_ a voice in her head shouted. _He's not dead! _

Amelia calmed down and took a step back. The voice (that sounded a lot like Lina) was right. This wouldn't help Zelgadis at all. Amelia tried to remember what she'd been taught about this sort of thing. She knew that people who'd been turned to stone died if they were left that way for too long. She felt a new wave of fear as she remembered that. What if…? No! She had to remain calm! Amelia took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes to concentrate. She stretched out with her priestess powers, trying to sense which statues were still alive and which… weren't. She felt two presences of life. One was her own, while the other was right in front of her.

Amelia sighed with relief, but she felt a pang of remorse too. He was still alive, but no one else was. At least she had a chance to save him now.

She began chanting a spell.

* * *

A bright flash of light. That was the first thing Zelgadis became aware of. Then a face swam into his line of vision. The face slowly came into focus, and he recognized who it was.

"A-amelia?" She smiled, looking relieved.

"You're alright," she sighed.

Zelgadis nodded slowly, still slightly confused. He rubbed his arm as feeling slowly returned to his limbs. "What happened?" he asked finally. "When did you get here?"

Amelia pursed her lips, looked and him, and began to explain. They sat on the floor as she told him her story.

"I see," Zelgadis said slowly once she'd finished. He wasn't sure how to respond. It hurt his pride somewhat that he'd needed someone to save him. But he still should probably thank her…

"What about you Mr. Zelgadis?" Amelia asked, interrupting his reverie. "What happened to you?"

He shrugged. "It's mostly what you guessed. I heard legends about these temples, and came here looking for more information on my cure. But the temple was mostly empty when I got here." Anger crept into his tone. "If there were any spells recorded here, tomb robbers took must have taken them long ago. Except…" he trailed off, suddenly frowning.

"Mr. Zelgadis?" Amelia gave him a quizzical look.

"There was someone else here too… I didn't get a good look at their face, but when whoever it was saw me, they cast a spell I didn't recognize. That's the last thing I remember up until now, anyway."

Amelia sprang up, clenching her fist in front of her. "Villainous fiends! Catching you off guard and attacking you without provocation!" she ranted. "I will hunt them down and make them feel the wrath of my JUSTICE!"

Zelgadis sighed. "And how exactly will you find them? You don't even know what they look like. I never got a good look at his face."

Amelia pouted. "Er, well, um…"

"Exactly."

A strange shadow on the wall caught her attention. "What's that?" Zelgadis turned and looked at where she was pointing. On the stone wall of the temple were numerous reliefs carved into the rock.

They examined the carvings, which were bizarre to say the least. The surface of the temple wall was divided irregularly into hundreds of sections. Each section contained a relief depicting a different creature.

"They look like chimeras," Amelia noted. It was true. One section depicted a cat with wings. Another showed a slug with a giant mosquito head. A third contained a creature with the torso of a human, snakes where its arms should have been, insect legs in place of human ones, and a tall, pointed cone where its head should have been. "Do you think the people who made these temples were chimera makers?"

"It's possible. Not much is known about these caves." There was silence for a few moments.

"Mr. Zelgadis, can we go now? It's cold and those reliefs are creeping me out."

* * *

_Elsewhere…_

It was a slow night at the inn. And by slow night, I mean a really slow night. The only ones currently occupying the building were the inn keeper and the cook. The cook had passed out on the kitchen floor long ago, clutching his now-empty bottle of whiskey like a teddy bear. The innkeeper was in danger of dozing off herself. The rational part of her mind told her to close up already, no one else was coming. It was dark out, and the snow was coming down so hard you couldn't see your own nose (don't ask). Any person in their right mind had already taken shelter.

But the innkeeper was a dogged woman when it came to her job, almost to the point where people would wonder whether or not _she_ was in her right mind. If she had decided to close up at midnight, she would close up at midnight.

So she sat at the counter, elbows propped up on the wooden surface, head cradled in her hands, desperately struggling to keep her eyes open…

* * *

_Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! _The innkeeper woke with start as the wall clock chimed midnight. She realized she must have fallen asleep and cursed herself quietly. "Stupid…"

She was cut off by knock on the door. _Who could that be at this hour?_ The knock came again, louder. "I'm comin, I'm comin," she muttered. She walked over to the door, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She lifted the latch to reveal…. two snowmen standing on the threshold. The innkeeper blinked. Was this someone's idea of a joke?

It turned out not; the snowmen shook themselves and the snow fell off to reveal a pair of shivering mercenaries.

"W-w-we'd l-l-like t-to st-st-st-stay at the i-inn," the shorter one said through chattering teeth. The taller one sneezed and nodded.

"Yeah, alright, whatever," the innkeeper replied vaguely. "Come in." She led the two of them inside and over to the counter, where she pulled out the inn's registry and opened it on the counter.

"Sign 'ere," she said sleepily, and yawned. The mercenaries complied, and after giving the innkeeper a few gold coins, went up to their rooms.

If she hadn't been so tired, Lina might have taken more notice of the other names written the registry... names that she would be very familiar with…

* * *

A/N: Lina and Gourry return! Heehee. And Zelgadis finally appears. About time too.

A factoid that probably won't come up at any point in the story but I still think I should explain: The people who built the cave temple-thingies were not actually chimera-makers, as Amelia guessed. They were actually just obsessed with ways to change your form, hence the creepy reliefs. You'll see more evidence of this later on, heheheh... -grins evilly-

R&R please! -angelic look-


	7. Mindless Destruction, Sort Of

**Chapter 6: Mindless Destruction... Sort of**

_Crash._

To most passersby it sounded like a monster was on rampage.

_Shatter._

This was actually untrue.

_Thud._

No mere monster could have caused the level of havoc currently going on the Stone Ridge village inn.

"GIMME BACK MY SAUSAGE GOURRY!" Yup, you guessed it. Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev were having breakfast. A most destructive affair, only to be rivaled by them having lunch and dinner. And _maybe_ the battle between Cepheid and Shabranigdo.

"No way Lina, you took my pancakes, and finders keepers!"

"That doesn't even make se- Hey! You stole my waffle!"

"Erm, excuse me…"

"You weren't eating, I assumed you'd finished."

"Oh, so that's how you wanna play it, huh? Then I'll do _this._"

"Sir, Madam?"

"Hey! I didn't take nearly that many Lina!"

"Serves you right for taking an innocent girl's food!"

"Who's an innocent girl?!"

"EXCUSE ME!" Lina and Gourry both looked up mid-food fight. A stray piece of bacon fell unnoticed to the floor and was quickly gobbled up by the cat hiding beneath the table.

The innkeeper stood in front of them, hands on hips, looking irritated. "Could ya please refrain from destroying me inn while ya finish yer meal?" she implored. They both muttered an apology and continued eating in silence for a while.

"Hey lady," Lina said as she finished chewing a mouthful of muffin. "Why is this place so empty? Where are all the other customers?"

The innkeeper shrugged, picking up the empty dishes. "Well, the reason most folks stay at this inn is coz they want to cross the Schwenkfelder Mountains. But seein' as how the mountain passes closed up yesterday, business isn't doing well, and I'll probably jes close up for the winter once yer gone."

Lina frowned. "Wait, the passes are closed up?"

The innkeeper nodded. "Won't open til mid-April." _Damn, _thought Lina. _Just missed it. So much for finding those temples._

As she wallowed in a momentary bout of self-pity, Gourry piped up. "So does that mean we're the only ones staying here right now?"

The woman looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, there was one girl here who went up to the mountains a yesterday, said something about a 'Quest fer Justice.' Not sure what that means, though I should pro'lly know better than to take what crazy folks say seriously. She left her things here, so I s'pose she meant to come back. I doubt she'll be back before spring though, if she comes back at all…"

The innkeeper continued to prattle on, but Lina wasn't listening "This girl," she interrupted, "What was her name?"

The innkeeper looked startled by Lina's question. "Well… I don' remember offhand… But if yer really curious I could look it up in the registry." Lina nodded, and the innkeeper, after setting down her load of dishes, led Lina over to the bar. She opened one of the cupboards and pulled out a large, leather-bound tome and plunked it on the counter with a dull _thud._ She opened the book and turned it towards Lina.

"Here," she said, gesturing at the open page, "This is a list of all the people who've stayed here in the past few weeks."

Lina scanned the page. At the bottom of list of names, about half way down the page, were her and Gourry's names. And on the line above that… her eyebrows raised. Amelia Saillune, written in curvy, cutsey-looking handwriting, with little hearts dotting the i's. Saillune was an old variation on Seyruun, and Amelia sometimes used it as an alias when she didn't want to attract attention.

_So Amelia _was _here… and now she's in the Schwenkfelder mountains… I wonder why?_ Then Lina spotted another familiar name near the top of the page, printed in very neat and precise hand. Zelgadis Graywords.

"Zel?" she muttered to herself. _What was he doing here?_ According to the date, he had stayed here for a few days last month. Lina found it difficult to believe that the two of them being here within only a few weeks of each other was just a coincidence. Her intuition told her something was up, and over the years Lina had learned to trust her intuition.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

It was times like this that Zelgadis really believed fate had a cruel sense of humor. Amelia had broken the spell which had turned him into a statue. But now it turned out that the entrance to the caves was caved in with snow. Luckily, there were a number of other tunnels, one of which _might_ lead to the exit. Might.

They had picked a random tunnel and had been wandering through it ever since. They walked. And walked. And walked. Then they got tired and slept for a while. Then they walked some more. With no way to keep track of time, they had no idea how long they'd been walking. Unlike in the chamber, the tunnel walls had no distinguishing reliefs to tell them how far they'd traveled.

Even Amelia was getting pessimistic. This tunnel didn't seem to go anywhere, but they had come too far to turn back now.

Suddenly Zelgadis stopped. "Amelia," he said sharply. She looked at him curiously. "I'm going to blast our way out of this tunnel."

She gave him an alarmed look. "What?! But Mr. Zelgadis, you could cause a cave in, or an avalanche!" That had been why they didn't blast their way through the snow when the first found the tunnel caved in.

"I know that Amelia!" he snapped back. "But I'm tired of walking through this endless tunnel." She opened her mouth to protest, but then closed it. Deep down, she had to admit she shared his feelings.

She chanted a protection barrier. "If there _is _a cave in, this ought to protect us," she explained.

Zelgadis nodded. "Good thinking." He turned to the cave wall, and Amelia stepped back. "Damu Brass!" There was an explosion, and as the mist cleared, they saw daylight streaming into the tunnel. Then a rumbling sound filled the air. Amelia barely had time to react before Zel shouted "GET OUT OF HERE!", grabbed her roughly by the arm, and leapt out of the hole. The makeshift escape routed created by the Damu Brass spell opened out into the face of a sheer cliff, several hundred feet above the ground.

The two of them instinctively began rapidly chanting Levitation, but several tons of snow falling down on them from above, hitting them with near bone-crunching force, broke their concentration. The force of the avalanche tumbled them about like clothes in a drier. At some point Amelia was aware of being separated from Zelgadis, but she had no time to dwell on that before she hit the ground and got the wind knocked out of her. The last thing she was aware of was Zelgadis shouting her name before everything went dark…

* * *

Zelgadis groaned and opened his eyes. He was utterly surrounded by white, and completely unable to move. It took him a minute to realize he was buried in the snow. _The avalanche…_ It suddenly all came back to him. _Amelia!_ He looked around frantically, but it was useless. There was nothing but white. _First I need to get out of here…_

He muttered a spell. "Ray Wing!" The wind barrier hugged his body, simultaneously dispelling the snow that surrounded him and lifting him out of the snow. Once he was free, he alighted on the ground, and began searching.

_There!_ He spotted a dark patch amidst the field of white. Hurriedly, Zelgadis ran over to take a closer look. Sure enough, it was Amelia, unconscious and almost completely buried in the snow. He frantically began digging her out. He noticed with alarm that her skin was turning blue. _How long was I out?_ He dug faster. As soon as she was half-uncovered, he grabbed her under the arms and pulled her free. He took of his cloaked and wrapped it around her before gently picking her up in his arms.

_Don't worry Amelia. We'll be someplace warm soon._ He began making his way towards the village.

* * *

A/N: Given the cliffhanger, you're probably going to hate me for saying this, but I'm afraid this will be the last update until after New Years. I won't insult your intelligence by explaining why (but for those of you with Gourry-level IQ's I'll give you a hint: "Christmas" and "vacation") 

Before I go, here's a Christmas present for ya'll:

www. deviantart. com /deviation/ 44833495/

Happy Holidays!


	8. Reunion

**Chapter 7: Reunion**

"Did you hear that?" Lina looked up, startled by Gourry's question.

"Hear what?"

"That boom noise." Lina shook her head, and no one made a sound as they listened for a moment. Then a faint rumbling noise was heard.

"Sounds like an avalanche," the innkeeper said mildly.

"What?!" Lina and Gourry both looked alarmed.

"Don't worry," she assured them. "The sound is faint, so it's probably far away." Lina gave her a skeptical, I'll-believe-it-when-I-see-it look and marched over to the window. As the innkeeper had predicted, the avalanche was several miles away in the mountains. It subsided as quickly as it began. Several things suddenly occurred to Lina:

1. The "boom noise" Gourry had mentioned was probably an explosion.

2. The explosion was probably what caused the avalanche.

3. Explosions were not naturally occurring phenomena, meaning someone must have caused it.

4. That must person was now probably buried in the snow somewhere, possibly still alive.

5. That person was probably Amelia.

"Come on Gourry," Lina said tersely, "We're going up there to investigate."

* * *

_Crunch. Crunch._ "This sucks," Lina grumbled to herself. Walking in the snow was a lot harder than she'd thought. It came up above her knees, making it extremely difficult and slow to walk. Her steps were big, long and exaggerated. "Scratch that. This _really_ sucks."

"It could be worse Lina," Gourry said cheerfully. "There could be a blizzard. Or a Makuzo attacking us."

Lina glared at him, not bothering to correct his mistake. Her blonde companion wasn't having nearly as much trouble as she was, being taller and having longer legs.

She wished she could Ray Wing to the avalanche site, but it was too far away. That, and she'd have to deal with Gourry's whining the whole way there. She couldn't use Fireball or Flare Arrow to clear a path through the snow either; that could cause another avalanche.

So she was stuck trudging through the snow. And she was quickly growing to hate it. "And to think, when I was a kid, I looked forward to snow," Lina muttered. "I must've been really naïve or something."

_Crunchcrunchcrunchcrunchcrunch._ Lina looked up. "Someone's coming," Gourry said, stating the obvious. Sure enough, a dark figure was fast approaching them. Lina squinted, trying to discern who it was…

"Zelgadis?" She and Gourry both said, surprised. Their chimera friend made his way towards them. As he drew closer, Lina noticed he was caring something large in his arms. It was a person, wrapped in a cloak. Lina caught a glimpse of the person's face.

"Amelia? Zel, what the hell happened?" Lina demanded, bewildered. Zelgadis didn't answer, instead running past them towards the village.

Gourry looked at Lina, who shrugged. They turned around to follow him.

* * *

Lina watched her friends from the doorframe. They were back in the inn common room, and it was just after sunset. Amelia was lying on a cot in front of the fireplace, still asleep. Zelgadis sat on a chair next to her, brooding (what else is new?)

"So, Zel what's eating you?" He didn't respond. Generally that would be interpreted as 'I don't want to talk about it,' but Lina wasn't good at taking hints.

"C'mon Zelly-boy, you can tell me," she said playfully. Still no response. _Jeez…_ She got slightly annoyed. "Listen Zel, if it's Amelia you're worried about, don't be. You heard what the healer said. She'll be fine. Besides, she's lived through a lot worse than this."

"I know," Zelgadis said shortly.

Lina frowned. "What the hell happened to you two up there anyways? You still haven't told me."

"I don't want to talk about it." She scowled, and thought things over for minute.

"Gourry heard an explosion right before the avalanche started, meaning someone must've caused it, intentionally or otherwise." She raised an eyebrow. "Now, should I keep guessing or will you save me the trouble by telling me?"

Zelgadis gave her an irritated look. "You're not going to let this drop are you?"

"No, I'm not." He sighed.

"Fine." He began his story, telling her how he wound up in the Temples, how Amelia saved him, and how they found themselves lost in the tunnels. He told her of his plan to blast a hole out of the tunnels, how that caused the avalanche, their attempts to escape, and finally, him bringing Amelia back to the village.

"I see…" Lina said slowly, taking it in. "You blame yourself for what happened, don't you?" Zelgadis didn't answer, but the look on his face told her she was right. "Look Zel, you and Amelia both got alive. You can't change the past so quit worrying about it."

"I still should have known better," he said, so quietly Lina barely heard it.

"Maybe, but how do you know that the two of you wouldn't have been stuck in that tunnel until you starved to death? You got out alive. That's all that matters."

Zelgadis didn't reply, and neither of them said anything. Finally Lina stood up. "I'm goin' to bed," she yawned. "Night, Zel."

He nodded as she went up to her room. Slowly, one by one, the candles burnt out. Soon, the crackling fire was all that lit the dark empty room. He sat there for a long time, watching the steady rise and fall of Amelia's chest as she slept, before finally nodding off himself.

* * *

A/N: Lina is a therapist, lol. Hope that last part of the chapter wasn't too OOC...

Anyhoo, Happy New Years everyone! I am back from vacation, as you all guessed. Twas fun. Not much else to say.

R&R please!


	9. An Interlude of Sorts

**Chapter 8: An Interlude of Sorts**

Something brushed ever so lightly against her nose. Amelia sneezed, but didn't open her eyes. Then something heavy pressed on her stomach. Amelia cracked open an eyelid. A whiskered tabby face stared back at her. Amelia blinked. A cat?

The feline in question clambered onto her stomach and curled up. Amelia realized she was back at the inn. _But how…?_ She noticed Zelgadis, sitting in a chair to her right, asleep. _He must've brought me here after…_

_Bam! _The door flew open as Lina and Gourry charged into the room.

"Hey lady! Breakfast special for 10 and step on it!"

The cat screeched and dove under the cot, and Zelgadis literally fell out of his chair. "Ow," he muttered, picking himself up off the floor.

Amelia sat up and stared. "Miss Lina? Mr. Gourry?" _What are they doing here?_

"Oh, Amelia, you're awake," Gourry said happily.

Lina opened her mouth to add something, but was interrupted as the disgruntled looking cook set down several large food-laden platters on the table in front of them.

"Alright! Food!" she and Gourry both cheered in unison, as they dove into their meal. Zelgadis and Amelia both sweatdropped.

"Looks like they haven't changed a bit," Zelgadis muttered. Amelia giggled. Then her stomach gave a loud rumble. Watching her two friends eat like two people who'd just finished a 30-day starvation diet made her realize just how hungry she was herself. Climbing out of bed, she and Zelgadis made their way to the table.

Breakfast went as normal that morning. Or at least, what was normal for them. Lina and Gourry had their usual food war. Amelia and Zelgadis made sure to stay out of it. In between bites of food, Lina (with occasional input from Gourry) filled Amelia and Zelgadis in on how they had ended up near the mountains and how they met up with Zelgadis. After she finished, Amelia told them the parts of her side of the story Zelgadis hadn't already explained.

Once everyone was brought up to speed, Lina finally asked the other question that had been on her mind. "So what now?"

There was silence for a moment as everyone thought about it. Finally, Amelia piped up. "Seyruun's having its Winter Festival in a few weeks," she suggested.

"Well unless someone has a better idea, we're going to Seyruun," Lina announced.

* * *

Peaceful days. Some called them boring. Not Lina. When you're Lina Inverse (or even if you're just traveling with her), days where there were no threats to destroy the world, no royal assassination plots, no crazy people plotting world domination, no Mazoku, and no one trying to kill you are like genuine copies of the Claire Bible: so rare you almost doubt their existence.

This was one such day. The path wound through a lightly forested piece of wilderness. There was still snow on the ground, but it only came up to your ankles. The road had not been heavily traveled since the snowfall, meaning the snow was still more or less white, and hadn't turned brown from being stomped into the dirt. The sky was overcast, but not in a dark and ominous way. All in all Lina considered it a pretty good day.

Zelgadis smiled inwardly. Though he wouldn't say so out loud, he was glad to be traveling with his friends again. It had been nearly a year since they last saw each other, after defeating Darkstar before going their separate ways. To be honest, he'd missed them. Not that he'd admit it to any of them. Lina would never let him hear the end of it.

As they walked, Lina told them of her and Gourry's adventures after splitting up, most of which involved finding Gourry a new sword to replace the Sword of Light.

"Our best lead now is something thing called the Blast Sword," Lina explained. "We're gonna see if we can find any information on it when we get to Seyruun." Though that wasn't her only reason for going to the Holy City. Seyruun's Winter Festival celebrations (and the food served at them) were downright famous. Plus, Lina privately hoped that, if she played her cards right, she could score free lodgings for the winter at the Royal Palace. She infinitely preferred staying at the nice, warm, palace to traveling on the road during winter.

* * *

Morris regarded the large map spread out on the table in front of him. He glanced at the slip of paper in his left hand.

"Let's see," he muttered to himself. "According to the scout's report, Inverse and her companions are somewhere along this road." With his right hand, he placed three wooden figures the size of chess pieces on a road on the map. The figures were crudely made carvings of Lina, Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis. The Lina statue was missing an arm, from when Morris had once vented his frustrations on the poor little statuette.

Morris pursed his lips. "Hmmmm… now if we set our traps-" he scanned the map, looking for a good location- "here." He drew a circle on a section of the road a few feet away from the figurines, and smiled vindictively. "Yes, that should do nicely…" He stood up out of his chair. "Duclis!" A moment later the brigand poked his head into the room.

"What?"

"Tell the others to start making preparations." Morris's smile widened. "We're putting our plan into action tomorrow."

* * *

A/N: Thus ends Part 1! Or Part 2 begins, take your pick. So the plotline with Amelia looking for Zel is now pretty much over, and the focus will be shifting to another plotline I've been setting up -mysterious shifty eyed look-

Originally they were going to be 2 seperate stories, but it worked better this way.

Good god I'm becoming obsessed with cliffhangars...

About the Winter Festival: I've always found it hard to believe that the Slayers would celebrate Christmas, because quite obviously they are not Christian. The odds of any of them even knowing what Christmas is are small. I don't have anything against Christmas or Slayers fics about it. I celebrate Christmas myself, and there are many good Christmas fics out there. The Winter Festival is an idea I borrowed from the Tamora Pierce books. It's essentially a Christmas-equivolent celebrated on the winter solstice.

So long for now. R&R!


	10. I Spy an Evil Sorcerer

**Chapter 9: I Spy an Evil Sorcerer**

"I spy something pink."

"Amelia's necklace thing?"

"Nope."

"Your clothes?"

"Amelia's purse?"

"No, no, and my clothes are magenta, Gourry."

"My bracelet?"

"There's a difference?"

"Yes, there's a difference Gourry, and yes, it's your bracelet Amelia."

Zelgadis rolled his eyes. It was their fifth day of traveling, and hour after hour of walking through never changing scenery was really, really _boring._ True, the forest was denser here, but still. He wished something interesting would happen, to break the monotony. Silly Zelgadis. He should know by now, "be careful what you wish for."

* * *

Bailard fidgeted. "What's taking them so long?" he muttered, getting irritated. You couldn't exactly blame him. Sitting in the bushes for god knows how long can do that to you. Not to mention the "special camouflage clothing" Morris made them all wear that itched him to no end, and the two small branches tied around his head, which, all in all, made him feel utterly ridiculous.

"They'll get here when they here," Morris replied calmly. This only irritated the bandit leader even more. Morris didn't seem at all bothered by this. In fact, nothing about the situation seemed to bother him; not the itchy clothes, not the dorky looking camouflage, and not the sitting in the bushes. In fact, as far as Bailard could tell, the sorcerer hadn't moved a single muscle since they got here a few hours ago. He simply sat there, crouched on his haunches, showing no signs of getting cramped, staring at fixed spot in the distance. Waiting…

* * *

"It looks like we've got company guys," Lina muttered. Her companions nodded. They had sensed it too: numerous presences concealed in the trees on either side of the road. Gourry and Zelgadis both put their hand on the hilts of their swords. Lina and Amelia both got ready to cast spells if need be. They continued walking, waiting for whoever was hiding to make their move.

Amelia suddenly got the feeling that something wasn't right. It was as if there was another danger, one she hadn't noticed before, though she couldn't be sure. She wondered whether or not she should say something to the others.

"Miss Lina-" Too late. There was a shout, and Amelia froze place.

"I can't move!" she heard Lina's voice to her left. Amelia quickly realized she couldn't either. None of them could.

"A Shadow Snap?" Zelgadis muttered, looking around at their shadows.

"A good guess," came a new voice. "Very close. But not quite accurate. You'll notice no swords or daggers pinning your shadows to the ground." Amelia's eyes widened in surprise. She recognized that voice! "The spell that holds you in place is a variation on the Shadow Snap. However, it does not use shadows to trap you from the Astral Plane, so that light spell you're chanting won't help."

Zelgadis glared and released the spell anyway. There was a flash of light, and…

"I told you it wouldn't help." Amelia twisted around to get a good look at the speaker.

"It's you!" Amelia exclaimed, pointing. "Um, whatever your name is!" Morris and all the bandits in the clearing fell over.

"My name is Morris!" he shouted, getting back up.

"You know this guy Amelia?" Zelgadis asked her quietly.

Amelia nodded. "He's that sorcerer I was telling you about yesterday."

Lina glared at him. "Alright Morris, what do you want from us?" she demanded.

"Well, my companions here are all bandits with a grudge against you Miss Inverse," he said mildly. "And me? Well, in exchange for helping them capture you, I get to test a new spell I discovered recently."

"What?!" the big burly bandit standing next to him growled. "That wasn't part of the deal!"

"I'm changing the deal Bailard. You can do what you want with them when I'm finished."

"Lina," Gourry whispered as the Morris and the bandit argued it out, "Why don't you cast a spell and get us out of this?"

"You think I haven't already tried that Gourry?!" she snapped at him. "He must have some kind of warding field up. I can only manage a light spell right now."

"Well there has to be a way to break the field!" Amelia insisted. Gourry quickly became lost as Lina, Zelgadis, and Amelia got into a quiet discussion on how to break warding fields.

There were a lot of things about the situation Gourry didn't understand. But he did understand that the bottom line was these people wanted to hurt Lina. As far as Gourry was concerned, that was all that mattered.

"Let's begin our experiment, shall we?" The evil sorcerer guy (whose name Gourry had forgotten) pulled out a roll of yellowing parchment and unfurled it.

"Listen, Morris," Lina said, thinking fast, "You can at least let my companions go. They have nothing to do with this."

"That's their bad luck," the sorcerer replied coldly. He started to chant a spell. Lina didn't recognize it, but she quickly realized from the level of power building up around them that the spell was a big one.

"If you hurt her-!" Gourry shouted angrily. The sorcerer gave no indication that he'd heard, continuing to chant.

_Pop!_ Gourry stared in horror as Lina vanished from sight, her clothes crumpling in a heap where she'd been standing moments ago. "Lina!"

_Pop! Pop! _He turned just in time to see Zelgadis and Amelia's clothes crumple to the ground. Gourry looked around wildly for his friends. "Wha-?!"

_POP!_ Everything went dark. On the ground where he'd been standing was nothing but a pile of blue clothes and armor.

* * *

A/N: My cliffhangar obsession continues -sigh- Writing from Gourry's point of view is harder than it looks. It was a nice challange. Hope I kept him in character.

I meant to update earlier than this, but my internet crashed -gripes- At least it's back up now.


	11. What the Heck is Going On?

**Chapter 10: What the Heck is Going On On?**

Darkness. It surrounded her. Something heavy pressed down on her head. A soft material enveloped her completely. It was difficult to breathe. It took all of Lina's self-control to keep from panicking. She struggled against the material that encased her. It moved when she pushed against it, but she still couldn't get herself free.

She pushed her head upwards against the weight pressing down on her, and suddenly it vanished. The darkness fell away as she looked blinkingly at her surroundings. It looked like the clearing she'd been standing in a minute ago, but…

"Why are the trees so big all of a sudden?" she wondered aloud. Her words came out as a string of mewing sounds, yet for some bizarre reason, it sounded like normal speech at the same time.

_What the hell is going on here?_ Lina raised a hand to rub her eyes, and make sure she wasn't seeing things. On can only imagine her shock when, instead of seeing a gloved hand, she saw an animal paw. An animal paw that was covered in ginger-colored fur.

Lina stared at the animal paw with a sinking feeling. The trees hadn't gotten bigger. _I got smaller._

She looked around wildly. She needed a reflective surface, something she could look at herself in. Something she could use to confirm her fears.

Lina noticed she was standing in a pile of clothes- her clothes. On her left was one of her shoulder guards, within reach. _That's got a big jewel in it, _she thought. _I can use that._

She reached out with her hand- or paw, rather- and grabbed the piece of armor and turned it so the big red jewel was facing her. She stared intently at her reflection.

True, the image was warped and distorted, but there was no mistaking the face that stared back at her.

"I'm a cat…" Lina whispered.

A sharp growling noise startled her out of her reverie, causing her to jump nearly a foot in the air. A few feet behind her, a gray wolf stood struggling to disentangle itself from … _Zel's clothes? What the-?_ Lina began to put two and two together. _No, wait, it can't be…_

"Zelgadis?" The wolf looked up, apparently just noticing her.

"Lina?" It sounded like a confused dog-like whine, but at the same time it sounded like Zelgadis' familiar voice. They stared at each other for a moment in mutual shock and disbelief. Finally, Zelgadis managed to get out, "What… what the heck happened to you?"

"I could ask you the same question," Lina replied dryly. "I woke up like this."

Zelgadis nodded. "Same." He paused. "Soooo… what exactly am I?" Lina blinked at his question. _Of course, he can't get a god look at himself…_

"Uhh…." she surveyed him for a minute, "some kind of wolf-dog type thing I'd guess."

"'Wolf-dog type thing?'" Zelgadis parroted, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, do I look like a wildlife expert to you?!" she shot back defensively, hissing a little.

Before Zelgadis could respond, they were interrupted by a dog-like whimper.

"Lina, that was _my_ drumstick." They both whipped their heads around. Curled up and asleep on top of familiar blue clothes and armor, was a golden retriever. Lina and Zel looked at each other with the same realization, and turned back to the dog.

"Gourry?" Zelgadis ventured uncertainly. The dog lifted its head to look at them and yawned.

"Hi Lina, hi Zel. What's up?"

Lina fumed. "Whaddaya mean, 'what's up'?! We-" she frowned. "Wait a sec, how'd you know it was us?"

Gourry shrugged. "I dunno. I just figured it had to be you. You still look kinda the same." Before either could respond, Gourry added, "By the way, where's Amelia?"

Lina and Zel realized he was right. They looked around. "Over here," Zelgadis said, bounding over to where Amelia's clothes lay in a heap. He prodded the pile with his forepaw.

"Ribbet." A frog poked its head out of Amelia's shirt collar. They all stared with mixed feelings of shock and horror. Had Amelia been-?

"Eeeek!" A yowl of disgust came from inside the pile as the frog hopped away. A small black-and-tabby cat emerged from beneath the pile, looking disgruntled. "Frogs are icky!" it spat in a voice Zelgadis recognized.

"Amelia," he said, feeling a little relieved. She blinked and looked at him. "Huh? Mr. Zelgadis?"

After a taking a few minutes to fill Amelia in, Lina finally said, "Ok, I think we can agree that this is the result of that spell Morris was casting, right?" Zelgadis and Amelia nodded. Gourry just looked lost. "And it's also the reason everyone nearby- including Morris and his cronies- got knocked out." They nodded again. The road was littered with the bodies of unconscious bandits. That sort of thing did happen, though it wasn't common. "Alrighty then!" she said triumphantly. "Soooo… now what?"

"Before we do anything else, I suggest we get as far away from here as possible," Zelgadis replied. "Given our current condition, I don't want to be here when they wake up." He indicated the sleeping bandits with a nod of his head.

Lina nodded. "Good point Zel. We should our things somewhere first though. We're gonna need em when we get back to normal." They all nodded and got to work.

* * *

_Later…_

Bailard groaned and sat up. He rubbed his head. "What happened?" he muttered. All around him he heard moans as his comrades slowly regained consciousness.

"Damn it!" Nearby, Morris was kicking to dirt near his magical circle. "They got away!"

"Wha-? Who got away?" Bailard asked, still not fully awake.

Morris glowered at the ground. "Inverse and her companions." _That_ got Bailard's attention.

"Wha?! How could that happen?!"

"I don't know. But it did."

Bailard fumed. "We need to find them!"

Morris glared at him. "And how do you propose we do that?" he snapped. "We don't even know what form they may be in now."

"I can tell you where they went," came a voice. From right beside them. Both men leapt backwards, startled. It was a man, dressed in typical preists' garb, with violet hair cropped about his chin.

"Wha-?!" sputtered Bailard, "Where the heck did you come from?!" The man gave him a mysterious, Cheshire-cat like grin.

"That, my friend, is a secret."

* * *

A/N: -gasp- It's him! That fruitcake priest guy with the rabid fangirls! What's he doing here?! And will our heores ever get out of their predicament? 

Hem, anyways, I wish I could say I came up with the turning into animals bit all by myself, but, well, I can't. It was inspired by the fics excellent of Ichiban Victory, who seems to like turning Amelia into things. Please don't sue me!

Of all my fics, this fic is now the longest, the one with the most reviews, and the one with the most hits. WH00T!

And on a completely random note, 24 started last night. It makes me happy .


	12. Eating Like Animals

**Chapter 11: Eating Like Animals**

It hadn't taken long for Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis to find a hollow tree and stow their things there. Once they finished, they had another pow wow about their next course of action.

"Our first priority is finding a way to turn ourselves back to normal," Zelgadis stated.

Lina shook her head. "No, our first priority is finding something to eat." Gourry nodded in enthusiastic agreement.

Amelia and Zelgadis both gave her a look. "How could you possibly think of food at a time like this?" Amelia demanded.

"No point in finding a counterspell if we die of starvation first," Lina replied. Zelgadis sighed.

"That's all very well, but where do you propose we find food? The nearest village is several miles away," he pointed out, but Lina wasn't deterred.

"Then we'll catch our own food. Cats and dogs are supposed to be hunters, right? How hard can it be?"

* * *

_30 minutes later…_

Lina yowled in frustration as yet another mouse scurried off before she could pounce. "This is impossible! How can you catch anything like this?!"

"You should try stepping like this Miss Lina," Amelia suggested, demonstrating. "You won't make as much noise this way."

Lina tried to imitate Amelia's crouch, but stumbled and fell. "Forget this," she grumbled. "I'm going to see where Gourry went." She stalked off in a huff. Amelia and Zelgadis watched her disappear into the bushes.

In actuality, Amelia hadn't done all that much better than Lina. The pile of things she'd caught was small. If you could consider two dead mice a pile. And one of the mice had already been dead when she found it.

Amelia sniffed her catch and nibbled at it curiously. She looked up at her companion. "Do you want some Mr. Zelgadis? It tastes better than it looks."

Zelgadis shook his head. "I'll find my own thanks."

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

It didn't take long for Lina to find Gourry. Her erstwhile protector was standing by the edge of a nearby river, staring intently at the water. In fact it was actually more of a stream, but proportional to her current size, it seemed like a river.

Without warning Gourry dove into the water, sending water everywhere. A second later his head reappeared from beneath the surface. He floundered around in the water a bit, and for moment Lina wondered if he was drowning. Then she saw another movement right in front of him; she realized he was in fact chasing a fish.

A few minutes later, the swordsman-turned-golden-retriever clambered onto the sandy riverbank. Spotting Lina, he marched over to her, sopping wet with his prize clamped proudly between his jaws.

"You idiot!" Lina whacked him on the nose with a forepaw. "What're you thinking, getting all wet when it's so cold?! You're gonna freeze!"

Gourry whimpered and said something unintelligible through a mouthful of fish.

Lina gave him a look. "Don't talk with your mouth full."

He set the fish on the ground and pouted. "Don't I least get a thank-you for catching it?"

Lina sighed. She'd never admit it out loud, but she had to admit, that puppy-dog pout (no pun intended) looked really… cute on him. _I always was a softie when it came to cute animals,_ she thought wryly. "Alright, thank you," she said. Her expression softened. "Not a bad method of catching fish," she added, "even if it was a little unorthodox."

Suddenly Gourry shook himself, spraying water everyone. Lina yelped in surprise.

"Waaaugh! What d'you think you're doing?!"

"What?" Gourry looked genuinely puzzled. "This gets the water off so I don't freeze."

She glared at him. "Yeah, but now _I'm_ wet."

"Oh, umm…" Gourry wisely decided to switch subjects. He nudged the fish towards her, sort of as a peace offering. "You want some of this?"

* * *

Zelgadis munched on the remains of the dead rabbit, feeling somewhat satisfied with himself. Normally he would have been utterly grossed out by eating anything that was still raw and furry. But as Amelia had said, it tasted a lot better than it looked.

"I wonder if Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry were able to find anything." Zelgadis glanced at his companion. Hunting had also been easier he'd thought. _I wonder if that's a built in aspect of the spell,_ he thought absently. _Getting the same basic instincts as the animals you become._

"We'd hear explosions if they hadn't." Zelgadis belatedly realized that Lina wouldn't be able use magic in her current condition.

Amelia laughed. "You're probably right." She curled up on the ground. "I guess we'll just wait here until they get back."

No sooner had she settled down, when loud voices heralded the arrival of their friends. _Speak of the devil…_ Both emerged from the bushes… soaking wet.

Zelgadis stared. "It's a little cold to go swimming guys."

Lina glared at him. "We weren't _swimming_, we were _fishing._ Gourry, hem,_ fell_ into the water and out of the goodness of my heart I decided to help him."

"Lina, you pushed me in!"

"Minor detail Gourry."

As the pair of them argued it out, Zelgadis and Amelia shared a knowing look, both thinking the same thing: _Those two have the weirdest relationship._

_

* * *

_

A/N: Ok, I owe a LOT of this chapter to Erin Hunter, the author of the Warriors books. Without her books (and her method of writing cats, which I've, hem, -borrowed- a little bit), writing the Slayers as animals would be near impossible, even if they aren't all cats.

I had fun writing the fishing bit between Lina and Gourry. Those two are great together. And I couldn't let Amelia and Zelgadis hog the spotlight forever. Gotta give Lina and Gourry some time on centerstage. Otherwise Lina will fireball me.

Man, I'm on a roll with this thing. Let's hope my inspiration lasts long enough to reach the end.


	13. Capture!

**Chapter 12: Capture!**

It was a dark and stormy night. In the clearing it was so dark and the rain was coming down so hard, you couldn't see anything except a few vague outlines. Then there was a clap of thunder, and a large spooky looking mansion was illuminated for a brief moment. There was another flash of lightning, and for a short moment one could see two small figures emerging- Whoops, wrong Slayers fic. Let me start over. Ahem.

It was dark (but not stormy). The skies were clear, and the moon was out. Four animals- two cats, a wolf, and a dog- sat crouched in the under brush at the edge of the forest, surveying the cluster of buildings a little ways in front of them. The buildings were lit from behind by an orangey light, indicating a bonfire of some kind behind them

"Are you sure Lina?" Gourry whispered.

She nodded. "Positive. There're no other bandit camps for several miles. This _has_ to be where Morris and his cronies keep their base of operations."

Amelia glanced at her. "So what do we do now?"

Lina looked thoughtful. "Well, we need to find a counterspell or something to reverse whatever it is that sorcerer did to us."

"And our best bet of finding one is in that evil sorcerer guy's hideout, right?" Gourry finished. Lina nodded.

"Getting past the guards shouldn't be too hard. None of them saw us after we transformed, so they won't be able to recognize us."

"Right then," Zelgadis said, "I think we should split up once we're inside. We'll be able to search faster that way."

"Good idea Zel," Lina nodded. "Me and Gourry cover those buildings on the left, while you and Amelia search the ones on the right. We'll meet back here when we're done. Any questions?" They all shook their heads. "Right then, let's go."

* * *

Amelia and Zelgadis crept up behind one of the buildings at the edge of the cluster. On the back wall was a small, low-down window. Zelgadis reared up onto his hind legs, putting his forepaws on the window sill so he could look in. 

"Do you see anything?" Amelia whispered, watching him intently.

"There are a few beds," he answered quietly, "And a table. This looks like living quarters to me."

Amelia glanced around. Most of the nearby buildings looked about the same as this one. "I'd guess that's most of these buildings are." Somewhere behind them a twig snapped. Both whirled around, coming face-to-face with-

"Morris," Amelia hissed. Zelgadis growled softly. Right in front of them stood the bandit sorcerer himself. Dressed in a flowery pink nightgown. If the situation hadn't been so serious, they would have found that funny.

The tall sorcerer stared back at them, blinking sleep from his eyes, plainly confused. Then an expression of sudden understanding dawned on his face.

"Of course," he breathed. "Inverse's companions." He muttered something under his breath.

Zelgadis was suddenly filled with an intense feeling of foreboding. "Amelia run!" Without waiting to see what the sorcerer would do next, he took off as fast as he could. Still running, he glanced back to make sure Amelia was following him. To his dismay, he saw she was falling behind, being half as big as him and not able to keep up.

Skidding to a halt, Zelgadis turned to go back and help her, when- "Sleeping!" the ball of light hit her squarely in the back of the head. She fell to the ground unmoving. Although fearful, Zelgadis didn't stop. Quickly but gently, he picked up her limp form by the scruff of the neck using his mouth, before turning once again to flee. Carrying her as he ran was the last thing he remembered before another sleep spell claimed his consciousness.

* * *

A/N: -Hangs head in shame- My cliffhangar addiction continues... If you're wondering what the deal was with the opening of this chapter, go back and look at the beginning of one of my other Slayers fics. If you just want to know what the heck I was thinking when I did that, well... -nervous laugh- I'm honestly not sure myself.

-Does cheesey annoucer voice- What will happen to Amelia and Zelgadis? How did Morris know it was them? Where are Lina and Gourry? And has the authoress finally gone crazy?! FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON SLAYERS JOURNEYS!

(Except for the last question- the answer's no. I went crazy a veeeeeeeery long time ago)


	14. Squish

**Chapter 13: Squish**

"_Fireball!" BOOM. The bandit camp went up in flames. Brigands ran around like headless chickens, screaming their heads off. Lina grinned, admiring her handiwork. _Bandit-frying,_ she thought blissfully. _Just the thing to soothe an innocent maiden's soul._ Rubbing her hands together, she grabbed a nearby thug._

"_Alright, pal," she growled, gripping him by the shirt collar, "Tell me where you guys keep yer loot, and I _might_ let you live."_

_Instead of blubbering and pleading for his life, as bandits usually did, he just vanished. A split second later, everything around her turned into an empty blackness. Lina blinked. What in the nine hells was going on?_

_Suddenly, the empty black void was pierced by a hideously familiar sound. _

"_OOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!"

* * *

_

"Waugh!" Lina woke with a start, panting heavily.

"Lina?" Gourry lifted his head, looking worried. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing Gourry," she waved him off with a flick of the tail. "Just a weird dream, that's all. Go back to sleep."

The golden retriever shook his head, standing. "Nah, sun's coming up." He glanced around the clearing. "Say, where are Amelia and Zelgadis?"

"Huh?" Lina scrambled to her paws. "You mean they didn't come back last night?"

"It doesn't look like it." Lina frowned, but it was momentary.

"Ah, well, those two are probably just taking some romantic alone time," she said, grinning. Gourry gave her a somewhat reproving look.

"Aren't you worried about them at all?" he said.

Lina sighed. "Of course I am you jellyfish. They're my friends. But getting worked up won't help." Her expression grew determined. "Now, let's go back and see if if we can find out where they ran off to."

* * *

When Amelia came to, she immediately became aware that she was lying on something cold. Something cold that made _squish_ noises when she moved.

"Blech!" Amelia sprang up with a cry of disgust. She tried moving away from the icky stuff, only to step in more of it. As she tried stepping even further, something pulled at her neck. It was a collar of some sort, with a leash attached to it that was fastened to a wall.

_Where am I?_ she wondered. In the dim lit, she could see she was in some sort of small, windowless room, but that was it. What really got to her though was the smell. By human standards, it was revolting, but to her delicate feline nose… Amelia retched.

_What _is_ this stuff I'm standing in? _she thought. _On second thought, maybe I don't want to know. _

Something on the other side of the room stirred, getting her attention.

"Wha-? Amelia?" the dark shaped muttered sleepily.

"Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia cried joyfully. She bounded over to him, only to be stopped by another yank at the neck. "Gak!"

"Amelia?" Zelgadis got up somewhat uncertainly. In the dark light he could just make out her dim outline, along with her blue eyes which glowed slightly in the dark. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she said, backing up slightly to keep from choking again, "It's just this stupid collar."

Zelgadis noticed that he too was similarly tied to the wall. "They put one on me too. And just what _is_ this stuff on the floor?" he added, wrinkling his nose in revulsion. "It smells like…" he searched for an appropriate analogy, before thinking better of it.

"Personally, I don't want to find out," Amelia replied frankly. Her tail twitched angrily. "How unjust for them to put us in such horrible conditions! They may have caught us for now, but when…" Zelgadis sighed and waited for her to finish. He had learned through experience it was pointless to try and get her to calm down once she got in "Justice Mode."

"Well well well, this is quite a predicament you're in, isn't it?" Zelgadis groaned. He knew that annoyingly cheerful voice.

"What're _you_ doing here Xellos?" he snapped in annoyance. The trickster priest faded into view, floating, Zelgadis noted, a few inches off the ground, thus not getting his feet covered in the mysterious substance which pasted the floor.

"Why Zelgadis," he said, an expression of mock-hurt on his face, "You make it sound as if I'm not wanted here!"

"That's because you're not."

Xellos smirked. "Well I see your manners haven't improved any."

Zelgadis growled, "Dammit Xellos! What do you-?! Wait a second." His eyes narrowed in confusion. "You can understand what we say? How?"

He smiled and held up a finger. "Now that is a secret."

"Hah! I see what you're up to!" Amelia suddenly yowled, a triumphant gleam in her eyes.

Xellos, who had forgotten about her up until now, looked taken aback. "Oh? And what is that?"

"You're just here to taunt us, and make us angry, so you can feed upon our negative energy, aren't you?"

"Very astute," Xellos said, sounding almost impressed. Almost.

"Hah! Well no Mazoku, no matter how irritating he may be, can overcome the blazing love of Justice that burns in my heart!" 'Almost impressed' was quickly replaced by 'slightly nauseous.'

Now it was Zelgadis' turn to smirk. It satisfied him to no end, seeing the effect Amelia's justice speeches had on Xellos.

"Well," the once-smiling priest said, sounding queasier and queasier as Amelia ranted on, "It's been nice catching up with you, but I'm afraid I must be going now." And with that, he vanished.

"Things are starting to get complicated," Zelgadis said after a moment.

Amelia gave him a look. "What do you mean, Mr. Zelgadis?"

"Well, Xellos' appearance. You were probably right in what you said back there, but I wonder…"

"You think Mr. Xellos might be connected to this somehow?"

Zelgadis nodded. "Morris never saw us after we transformed, yet he still recognized us when he got us last night. I'm betting Xellos told him how to recognize us."

"He could've used the spell he cast on us to scry for us from the Astral Plane," Amelia pointed out.

"True," he conceded, "But you need a crystal ball or a mirror or something like that for astral scrying. He didn't have those."

Amelia mulled this over for a minute, before adding dejectedly, "He probably also gave Mr. Morris the spell that got us into this situation in the first place."

Zelgadis hadn't thought of that. "It's quite possible."

Neither said anything for a moment. Finally, Amelia broke the silence. "Now how do we get out of here?"

* * *

A/N: Another chapter. Xellos gets a more major appearance this time. I just wanna point out that Zel and Amelia's little dialogue at the end is speculation on their part, and readers shouldn't take it as the gospel truth (although I'm not saying they were completely off the mark either...)

Writing about mysterious stinky substances that make "squish" noises is surprisingly fun. God I love to torture characters (yes, I'm sick, I know). Lina's dream was also fun to write (and yes, I realize it also seems kind of random).

A brief explanation of astral scrying for those who haven't read the novels: basically, astral scrying is scrying for something on the astral plane. However, you need to know it's magical energy pattern. For example, in season 1, Zelgadis explains that the reason Rezo's minions are able to track down him and Lina so easily is because Rezo created his chimera body. His body gave off a specific magical energy pattern, which Rezo used to scry for him from the astral plane. The same logic applies here: It was Morris' spell which turned Lina and Co. into animals, so he could use that spell's magical energy to scry for them from the astral plane (provided, of course he knows it. Which he might not -mysterious smirk-)

Oh, and fyi, the bit I said about needing a crystal ball (or something similar) for astral scrying is something I made up.

**Edit:** I didn't realize until after posting this chapter that there was a minor but still important detail I meant to include here but forgot to, so now I've edited it to include that change. Originally, the edited part was:

_Zelgadis growled, "Dammit Xellos! What do you want?!"_

_He smiled and held up a finger. "Now that is a secret."_

But now it reads:

_Zelgadis growled, "Dammit Xellos! What do you-?! Wait a second." His eyes narrowed in confusion. "You can understand what we say? How?"_

_He smiled and held up a finger. "Now that is a secret."_

It was bugging me. A brief explanation: remember, since Lina and co. are animals, they talk like animals. They can understand each other (because it was easier to write things that way), but other humans can't understand them. Xellos is an exception, cuz he's a Mazoku, and things were more conveniant that way.

Until next time, R&R!


	15. BOOM BOOM

**Chapter 14: BOOM BOOM**

Night had fallen again. Lina was struck with a sense of déja-vu as she and Gourry crouched in the bushes, surveying the bandit camp once more. After several hours of fruitless searching, both had been forced to admit that Zelgadis and Amelia had probably been captured by the bandits.

_As if the situation couldn't get any worse,_ Lina thought, disgruntled.

"Plan, Lina?" Gourry whispered.

"Same as last time. But no splitting up. I don't want to have to look for you if you get lost," she replied. Gourry knew what she meant.

As quietly as they could, the pair dashed towards the edge of the camp and slipped into the gap between buildings.

* * *

"Almost… got it…" With a grunt, a snap, and a cry, Amelia and Zelgadis tumbled backwards, the mangled remains of Amelia's collar in Zelgadis' mouth. 

"Yes!" Amelia squealed with joy. She tucked her head in to give her neck a massaging lick. "Now let me do yours Mr. Zelgadis."

After testing the limits of their prison, they had discovered that if they pulled their leashes as tight as possible towards each other, Zelgadis could just barely get his jaws on Amelia's collar.

After a few minutes of chewing, they were both free. Amelia spat out the mangled piece of leather. "Let's get out of this horrible place Mr. Zelgadis."

"Agreed. But how?" There was no door of any kind that he could see on any of the walls, nor were there windows.

"Up there Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia gestured with her tail. "There's a trap door in the ceiling."

Zelgadis squinted in the direction she'd indicated. In the darkness, he couldn't see anything, but than again, her eyes were better designed for seeing in the dark. "I'll take your word for it. But now the question is, how do we reach it?"

* * *

Morris groaned and rubbed his temples. He was really getting to hate working with bandits. They had no knack or appreciation for complex plots! Not to mention about ninety per cent of them were complete buffoons. 

"For the last time Bailard, you may _not_ kill them. We need them to lure Inverse here."

The bandit boss gave him a death glare. "Bull. Inverse won't know they's dead 'til it's too late."

Morris sighed again. "Duclis, you explain it to him." He got up and left the room.

Duclis was an odd one. Morris had earned both the respect and loyalty of the young bandit leader by helping him out of a tight spot a few months earlier. Then, Morris had quickly discovered that he had a remarkable talent for speech-making, although he mostly made corny-villain speeches.

Regardless, Morris knew that, not counting the bandits' hatred of Lina Inverse, it had mostly been Duclis' good speaking skills that had persuaded so many brigands to join them.

An explosion shattered the quiet of the night. Loud oaths were made all over the camp. Swearing himself, Morris ran to investigate.

* * *

With a loud yowl, Amelia lost her balance and tumbled down in a heap on top of Zelgadis (she'd been stand on his head while trying to reach the trap door). 

"What was that?" she screeched.

Zelgadis said something unintelligible.

"Could you repeat that Mr. Zelgadis?"

"I said you're standing on my face."

"Oh." If cats could blush, she would have.

"To answer your question, I have no idea," Zelgadis added.

Amelia frowned. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it was Miss Lina, except she can't cast spells right now."

They both glanced at each other, wondering who else it could possibly be.

* * *

"What the-?!" Gourry instinctively ducked for cover while Lina jumped about a foot in the air as a building just a couple yards away exploded. 

Bandits ran around the camp, some panicking, some looking startled, and others shouting words that would increase the rating of this story considerably if printed.

_At least we know Zelgadis and Amelia weren't in there,_ Lina thought (They had already searched that building and found it empty). She didn't enjoy the prospect of having to explain to Prince Phil why there was nothing left of his daughter except a few singed cat hairs.

_Boom! _Another one rang through the camp, only this time it wasn't the sound of an explosion.

"Something big's coming," Gourry stated. "Something really big and heavy." _BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

Lina's mind raced through the possibilities of what would fit that description, when suddenly…

"OOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Lina's blood froze. It was the laugh she still had nightmares about. The laugh she had hoped never to hear again. Although, considering the circumstances…

"I don't know if I should laugh or cry," Lina muttered. A giant golem appeared in the bandit camp, and on the golem's shoulder was a tall, extremely well-endowed woman wearing a black leather bikini and cape. The woman threw back her head and laughed again. Everyone in the vicinity cringed.

"I never expected Amelia's sister would show up," Gourry commented, wincing as the woman continued laughing.

Lina fell over in shock. "Wh- wha- what the heck?!" she sputtered. "Amelia's sister?! How'd 'ya figure that?!"

"Well, Amelia said her sister is tall and scary," Gourry explained, cocking his head to one side. "This woman fits that description, and she kind of looks like Amelia too."

Lina didn't quite follow his logic, but decided not to pursue it. "We can ask Amelia when we find her. But if you're right, I'll treat you to dinner."

Gourry grinned. "I'm gonna hold you to that Lina."

* * *

Amelia froze as the familiar laughter rang through the clearing. "It's Gracia!" she cried, her eyes lighting up joyfully. 

Zelgadis looked at her quizzically. "You mean your sister?"

Amelia nodded vigorously. "Uh huh. I'd recognized that laugh anywhere."

"And speaking of her laugh-" He didn't get a chance to finish. The ceiling suddenly crashed down on top of them, a large chunk of plaster missing them by inches.

"What the heck was that?" Zelgadis said, coughing. As the dust began to clear, he saw from the moonlight shining in that the collapse had formed a hole in the ceiling. Not only that, one of the collapsed support beams led from the ground the hole, providing them a convenient way out. Freedom at last!

* * *

A/N: And now Naga appears. Dundundun.

About Gourry figuring out that Naga is Gracia: It just made sense that way. Especially since he figured out that Xellos was a Mazoku long before anyone else.

Also, please go look back at chapter 13 because I've edited it to include a minor (but still fairly important) detail I forgot to put in originally. And no, I couldn't have just written it into this chapter, cuz it doesn't work well here. (There'll be a more detailed explanation in that chapter's author's note). The change is shortly after Xellos appears and Zelgadis says "Dammit Xellos." (so you don't have to go looking through the entire thing).

A bientot. R&R s'il vous plait!


	16. Reenter the Serpent

**Chapter 15: Re-enter the Serpent**

"Augh!" Gourry yelped, narrowly avoiding being squashed into a pancake by a large stone foot.

"Damnit!" Lina leaping clear of the golem's feet. "What the hell is she thinking?!"

"The same things you think when you're attacking a bandit camp?" Gourry offered, moving as far away from the rampaging golem and the sorceress who controlled it as he could.

"You're not helping!" she snapped back, teeth clenched.

Meanwhile, a nearby group of bandits seemed to be mounting some kind of counterattack against Naga. It was actually kind of pitiful, as they were disorganized and clearly scared to get too close. One of them lobbed a battle ax of some sort at the golem.

"Throwing away your weapon in the middle of a battle," commented Gourry, sounding somewhat awed. "How dumb can you get?"

"Look who's talking."

The battle ax soared through the air, spinning like a boomerang. The heavy weapon clonked the golem right in the chest and bounced, not appearing to leave any mark. The golem groaned and fell to bits.

"Another useless golem," Lina muttered. "Why am I not surprised?" Naga did not seem at all phased by this turn of events. Just as the golem fell apart, the buxom sorceress leapt off its shoulder, flipping gracefully through the air and landing on the ground.

"Well she certainly has Amelia's jumping style," Gourry remarked.

Lina was about to respond to this when the princess in question appeared through the settling dust at a run, Zelgadis a few paces behind her.

"Miss Lina! Mr. Gourry!" she cried happily. "There you are!"

"Amelia! Zel!" Lina breathed an inward sigh of relief. "You're ok." She wrinkled her nose. "Good grief you two stink! What _is_ that stuff you're covered in?!"

"We don't know and we're probably happier that way," Zelgadis replied dryly.

"Well whatever it is, keep away from me, alright?!"

"Fine Miss Lina, but we have something more important to tell you. That woman over there-" Amelia gestured with a flick of her tail- "is my sister." She had expected Lina to be surprised, even shocked (considering the circumstances), but she didn't expect-

"Damnit!" Lina swore, flicking her tail angrily. At the same time, Gourry extremely pleased with himself.

"I told you it was her Lina!" he said triumphantly. Amelia and Zelgadis exchanged baffled looks. What were they talking about?

"So you mean to say," Lina said, looking somewhat dejected, "that that is, in fact, your older sister Gracia?"

"Y-yes," Amelia replied, still looking bewildered. "But how-?"

"There's no time to explain," Lina cut her off. "Naga could be our only way out of this situation."

Amelia glanced around the bandit camp. Most of it was in ruins. Bits of rubble that were the remains of Naga's golem were scattered everywhere. Amelia saw her sister nearby sorting through a pile of treasure. "Over here!" She and Lina bounded over to her, Gourry and Zelgadis following a little uncertainly.

As they got closer, Naga suddenly sneezed. She sneezed again, before breaking into a sneezing fit. "Oh dear," Amelia said, stopping suddenly.

"What is it?"

"I forgot that Gracia's allergic to dogs…" Amelia and Lina both stopped, looking intently at Gourry and Zelgadis.

"Huh? Why're you looking at me?" Gourry looked confused. Although at least they weren't giving him that "let's-put-him-drag" look again…

"Hey, I'm a wolf, not a dog!" Zelgadis added, looking.

Lina ignored him. "You stay here while me and Amelia go talk to her. Yes, you too Zel. Just to be on the safe side."

"Alright fine," Zel grumbled, still looking annoyed. "But how are you going to talk to her if she can't understand a word you say?"

"Hah! You forget, Mr. Zelgadis, that we are sisters, and we share a special bond!" Amelia explained, going into "Justice" mode again. "As long as there is a raging love of Justice in our hearts, no language barrier is insurmountable!"

_If that's the case, then we're all in a lot of trouble,_ Lina thought cynically.

* * *

Naga examined her findings. "Pretty skimpy pickings for a camp this size," she murmured, disappointed. "Perhaps they have another treasure trove elsewhere?" There was a tug at her cape. Naga looked down. The culprit was a small cat. Black-tabby fur covered its back and the top of its head and face like a cloak. Its legs, under belly, and the front of its neck were all white. Behind it stood another cat, slightly larger. Unlike the other one, this cat's fur was all one uniform color- orange.

"Well, aren't you cute?" Naga smiled, before turning back to her treasure. Sure they were cute (she'd always been more of a cat person), but there was treasure to be sorted through!

One of the cats meowed loudly. Naga turned. Both felines were looking at her intently. It was actually a little creepy. The tabby meowed again.

"Sorry little kitties, I don't have any food for you." And speaking of food…

The cats exchanged a look and began meowing at each other quietly. If Naga didn't know better, she'd say they were talking to each other!

The tabby began scratching at the ground. Curious, Naga crouched down for a closer look. The scratchings almost looked like letters…

"A… M… E… L… I… A…" Naga read each letter aloud as it was scratched into the dirt. She gasped as realization hit. "Amelia? Sister?" The cat nodded vigorously. Naga gaped. "But how..?" She was interrupted by the orange feline's meowing. It was gesturing at the four letters it had scratched in the dirt.

"Lima?" Naga looked confused. "As in lima beans?" The cat sweat-dropped, and erased the third letter with its paw.

"Lina?" That name rang a bell, but she couldn't remember… It hit her like a ton of bricks. "Lina Inverse?!" The cat nodded, looking relieved.

Naga looked back and forth between the two cats, eyes agog. "What happened to you?"

* * *

It took the better part of an hour, but after a lot of miming and scratching words in the dirt, Lina and Amelia were able to convey the gist of their situation to the elder Seyruun princess.

"So let me guess," Naga said, looking amused, "You want me, the great Naga, to find a counterspell for you?" Lina nodded grudgingly. Naga laughed. They all winced. "Very well then! I'm guessing that I can probably find one some where in this camp, so I'll start here." She smirked. "But of course, in exchange for doing this, you'll have to treat me to dinner." She laughed loudly. Amelia looked shocked.

"Gracia! That's not very Just of you!

"Forget it Amelia," Lina replied, sighing. "I expected this sort of thing. At least she's helping us." In the dirt she scratched "_FINE."_

Naga smirked. "Alright then, I'll meet you back here in the morning. Levitation!" Rising up in to the air, she disappeared into the night.

"Well?" Zelgadis asked, rejoining the group. "Did it work?"

Lina nodded. "Yeah, she's going to search the camp for a counterspell and meet us here in the morning. But let's go somewhere else and talk about it. I don't wanna be caught in the open if any of those bandits return."

* * *

Outside of the camp, they found a nice, secluded cave, big enough for the four of them to fit into comfortably.

"Alright Miss Lina, I want you to explain something," Amelia said, settling down on the ground. "How do you know my sister? And why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Right then," Lina sighed. She had been expecting this… "Well, long story short, Naga was my traveling companion when I was younger, and she called herself my 'greatest and foremost rival.' To answer your other question Amelia, when I was traveling with her, I just knew her as 'Naga the White Serpent.' I had no idea she was your sister. But anyways, we traveled for while, but she wandered off on her own shortly before I met Gourry. And that basically it," Lina took a deep breath and finished.

"I have a question," Zelgadis cut in, somewhat impatiently. "What the was the deal with that outfit your sister was wearing?!" He had a hard time wrapping his head around the concept that someone who dressed like Naga could be related to the Seyruun family.

"Oh, um, well…" Amelia looked a little embarrassed. "I'm not really sure myself… She said something about mommy's closet," she mumbled. Seeing the odd looks she was getting, she added, "Daddy always said that Gracia really takes after mommy." That didn't help much.

_Amelia, just what kind of wacko _was _your mother? _Lina wondered, a little disturbed. There was an awkward silence. Finally, Lina broke it with a yawn.

"Whatever," she said tiredly. "I'm beat. 'Night." One by one, they all followed her example, and curled up to go to sleep.

* * *

A/N: Well, I had a snow day yesterday, and as a result, I was able to get most of this chapter written. I finished the rest today, and here you have it! I think this is my longest chapter so far. Yay!

Regarding Naga taking after her mother: I read an excelent fanfic once called "Prince Charming," by Phizzy-chan. It is one of the only stories (as far as I know) that focuses on Prince Phil's past and how he met his wife. One of the things that I really liked about that story was that his wife was almost exactly like Naga. She had Naga's laugh, fashion taste, and personality (though there were some minor differences). Heck, she's even called "Naga the Sorceress!" Anyhoo, that's where the idea for Gracia/Naga taking after her mother comes from. In other words, it belongs to Phizzy-chan, not me!

And I have finally figured out how this story will end! This means that I'm not gonna get into one of those annoying situations where you've started a fanfic and halfway through you suddenly realize you've no idea how to end it or what to write next. Yay! But the ending's still a bit of a ways off. It's not written down (not yet anyways), but I have the general idea laid out in my head.

I've heard many author's comment on the fact that stories have a tendency of going where they please. You know what? They're right. For example, when I was originally working this out in my head, I had no plans for Naga show up again after the prologue and have an important role in the story. And I'd had no intentions of bringing Xellos into this period. One of life's delightful oddities.

This author's note is getting long, so until next time mes amis!

Don't forget to R&R!


	17. An Interesting Development

**Chapter 16: An Interesting Development**

Lina's consciousness wandered between that place between dreaming and wakefulness. Disjointed sounds and pictures flashed through her brain, yet she didn't know if they were real or if she was just dreaming.

She was dimly aware of being curled up against something very big and very warm. She purred. It was actually quite comfortable. She cracked open an eyelid.

To find herself lying next to a very human (and very naked) Gourry. Her startled yowls were heard many miles away by a lone traveler, who assumed that someone was suffering a toaster-related incident (don't ask).

To say that the upstart woke her companions would be an understatement.

"Ack-!"

"What the-?!"

"Are we under attack?!"

"Mr. Zelgadis you're sitting on my tail."

It took a few minutes for the initial confusion to die down. Gourry looked as bewildered as the rest of them.

"Lina, what happened to-" he noticed his current state of undress. "Ack! I'm naked!" He blushed and covered himself as best as he could.

If Lina had been human, she'd look like a tomato. As it was, she ducked her head in embarrassment. _Of all the things-!_

"Alright, first order of business, get some fricken clothes on Gourry!"

"But Lina, I don't remember where we put our clothes!"

"Then get Zel- Wait a second, how can you understand what I'm saying?" He opened his mouth to answer, but she cut him off. "On second thought, just go get your clothes. We can talk about it later."

Once they were gone Lina sighed. "Good grief," she muttered.

"You do realize what this means, don't you Miss Lina?" Amelia said, approaching her with a hopeful look in her eyes.

Lina nodded. "Course I do, Amelia. This spell may only be temporary, in which case…" she trailed off, not needing to finish. Then she frowned. "There's one thing that's bugging me though. Why just Gourry? We all had the spell cast on us at the same time, so if it's temporary, shouldn't we all turn back to normal at the same time?"

"Hmmmm…" Amelia pondered this for a moment. "I wonder…"

"What are you thinking Amelia?"

"Well, you know what herbalists are, right?" Lina nodded. Essentially, herbalists were a poor man's alternative to healers, who used herbal remedies instead of spells to heal the sick and injured.

"Well," Amelia continued, "I was on a diplomatic mission in the Outer World a while ago. Because magic is so scarce out there, their non-magical methods of healing are a lot more advanced than they are here, because they've had to rely on them more. This includes herbalists."

"You do have a point to all this, don't you?" Lina interrupted.

"Yes, right. Well, while I was there, I met an herbalist who was telling me about what he does. He told me that he had to be careful with the herbs he used, because different people reacted to them differently."

"And you think something similar might have happened with the spell?" Lina finished. "That it had a different effect on each of us?"

At that moment, Zelgadis, accompanied by a no-longer-nude Gourry reappeared. Lina and Amelia quickly relayed to them their theory.

"It makes sense if you think about it," Zelgadis after thinking it over for a minute. "It would explain why we weren't all turned into the same thing."

"Uh, Lina?" Gourry asked raising a hand.

"Yes Gourry?"

"I don't get it." _Right,_ thought Lina, _Who didn't see that one coming?_ She sighed.

"Ok, Gourry, think of it like this. You know how some people, when they're around flowers, get itchy eyes and runny noses, and they sneeze a lot?" Gourry nodded. "But that doesn't happen to everyone," Lina continued. "Just some people." He nodded again. "Right, well, it's sort of the same thing with that spell Morris cast on us. Only instead of getting itchy eyes, we all turned into different animals." It suddenly struck Zelgadis how odd it was that their situation was being compared to pollen allergies. "And in your case, at least, the spell was only temporary. So do you understand now Gourry?" He thought about it for a minute, and then clapped his hands together in sudden understanding.

"So basically, what you're saying is that we all had allergic reactions to that spell-thingy!"

Amelia and Zelgadis fell over. Lina sighed again. "Close enough," she muttered.

Picking himself up, Zelgadis added, "Remember, most of this is just speculation. We don't have any definite proof. And it still doesn't answer the question of why Gourry can still understand us even though he's human now."

"You've got a point there Zel," Lina admitted. "Although, we don't really know why we've been able to understand each other period since we first transformed. Logically, you'd think we couldn't, but we can."

"Maybe there's a built-in side effect in the spell that let's us understand each other when we transform," Amelia mused aloud. "And for whatever reason, that side-effect lasted after the spell ended?"

"Yes, but why would Morris put something like that in the spell?" asked Zelgadis. "Wouldn't it be to his advantage for us not to be able to communicate?"

"True, but we don't know that Morris created this spell," Lina pointed out. "For all we know, he could have gotten it elsewhere."

Gourry sat cross-legged on the ground, not really following any of it. Deep and involved discussions like this one were way to complex for him to really understand. Not that he tried very hard. He generally left the magic-related thinking to Lina. That was more her area of expertise. He didn't see the point in thinking to much about it when he had Lina around to do the thinking for him.

A nearby presence broke him out of his reverie. He sat up and tensed slightly, straining his senses. He could tell the presence was getting closer. The blonde swordsman glanced at his companions. Still wrapped up in their discussion, none of them seemed to notice (Lina and Zel were arguing about something related to sealing shadows and Astral Pain).

He was about to say something when-"OOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" They all started.

"Gah!" Lina muttered. "I still have nightmares about that laugh."

"Imagine having to grow up with it," Amelia told her somberly.

"Imagine eleven of her all laughing at once," Lina shot back.

"Miss Lina! There are some things you shouldn't joke about!"

"I'm not joking. That's actually happened."

An eerie silence fell. It was broken by the sound of Naga's voice, who- thankfully!- had stopped laughing.

"So Lina Inverse! Are you challenging me, the great Naga, to a fight?!"

"Huh?" Lina looked around wildly, but the scantily-clad sorceress was nowhere to be seen.

"Do not underestimate me! I, your greatest and foremost rival, will not be defeated easily!" She laughed again.

"Lina, I'm confused!" Gourry whined.

"For once you're not alone in that sentiment Gourry," Zelgadis muttered.

* * *

A few minutes of searching revealed the White Serpent to be a few yards away in the forest. Apparently talking to a tree. Or rather, talking to the orange cat that was stuck up the tree. 

"Hey Lina! That cat looks like you!" Gourry exclaimed, pointing.

"Good grief…" Lina stared, somewhat amazed by Naga's stupidity. "Naga!" she called. The sorceress didn't seem to notice.

"Hey Gourry-" Lina head butted him in the shin lightly- "Get her attention for me, will ya?"

Gourry obediently picked up a rock and chucked it at the White Serpent, beaning her in the head.

"Ow!" Naga clutched her head in pain.

"I didn't mean like that Gourry!"

"Then why didn't you say so?"

"Urgh, never mind."

* * *

A/N: Yeah, I know it's a weird place to end a chapter. I'm weird. So sue me.

The nakedness part was fun to write. Bwahahahahah. So was Gourry's method of getting Naga's attention.

I'm still not very good at writing Naga's character... Especially when she's interacting with someone other than Lina. This will be harder than I thought...

Anyhoo, until next time! R&R!


	18. The Beast

**Chapter 17: The Beast**

With Gourry now human and able to act as an interpreter, explaining things to Naga was much easier. True, it was still slow, but Lina was grateful to not have to mime things to her anymore.

As it turned out, Naga had returned to find the bandit camp (or what was left of it at least) completely abandoned. Her search among the ruins had, however, turned up something useful: Morris's notebook, which contained notes from his research on some spells he had discovered recently, including the spell he'd used on Lina and company.

_"This spell is one which will change a person's form, although the caster cannot control what form the subject will turn into. Furthermore, what form the subject takes seems to be completely random. If there is a determining factor for which form the subject takes, I've yet to discover it._

_According to the manuscripts I found with the spell, this spell is only temporary. But what is most strange about it is the way it maintains itself. At first, like most spells of this sort, the caster puts a certain amount of magical energy into the spell which will serve to keep the spell in effect. With most spells, when that energy runs out, the spell wears off. With this spell, however, it will then feed off of the subject's own magical power to maintain itself, thus lengthening the spells life considerably."_

"Well that explains a lot," Lina remarked after a minute.

Zelgadis nodded. "It certainly does."

"So do you think this means it will wear off on it's own for us too?" Amelia asked.

"Probably, but we have no way of knowing how long that will take."

"Zel's got a good point. Personally, I'd rather not wait however long it would take."

While the three of them discussed this new information, Naga sat cross legged across from them, watching their discussion. Not able to understand what they were saying, Naga felt a little left out. Sure, there was that Gourry-person to act as an interpreter, but he had stopped translating a while ago.

"Psst," she elbowed him to get his attention. "What're they saying?"

"Hm-? Wha-? Oh, sorry, I wasn't paying attention," he replied cheerfully.

Naga sweatdropped. _This is the person Lina replaced me with?_ She opened her mouth to ask something else when-

_BOOM!_ With reflexes that came naturally from traveling with Lina, they all leapt clear of the explosion just in time.

In the midst of all the dust and smoke, Lina lost sight of her companions. Coughing and sputtering, she blundered her way out of the smoke. Cat instincts taking over, she dashed up the nearest tree.

Looking down she could see several goblins had entered the clearing. _Great. Goblins. Just what we need,_ Lina thought groaning inwardly. A couple of them were carrying small black objects she recognized as bombs. _At least they're probably not working for Morris._ Goblins and humans didn't exactly work well together. _Though it doesn't make them any less of a pain to fight off…_

"Hah!" With a grunt, Gourry parried as a goblin (which bore an unusual resemblance to Prince Phil) charged him with a war hammer.

"Demona Crystal!" Naga unleashed her spell, turning several more of them into large chunks of ice. Gourry took advantage of the brief lull in the fighting to look for his companions. He saw Lina had taken refuge in a nearby tree, for which he was privately grateful. Amelia and Zelgadis were nowhere to be seen.

"Freeze arrow!" Naga seemed to be almost enjoying herself as she launched more Freeze Arrows at a group of already fleeing goblins. "Oooooohhohohohohohoh! Don't think you can get away from the great Naga so easily!" She chased after them and disappeared into the trees, shooting off more Freeze Arrows all the while.

Gourry suddenly sensed another presence right behind him. He whirled around just as another particularly large goblin swung a sword at him…

A furious yowl split the clearing. A hissing and spitting mass of orange fur and claws launched itself at the beast man, clawing its head furiously.

"Graaaah!" The goblin stumbled backwards howling in pain and making blind grabs for his face. Quickly getting over his initial surprise, Gourry finished the goblin off with a blow from his sword.

"Not bad," he said, smiling slightly.

"What? Did you expect me to just watch helplessly from the sidelines like some damsel in distress?" Lina replied, grinning. Their celebration was short lived.

_Ga-ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAR!!!!!!_ They both froze as an ear-splitting roar shook the clearing. The few goblins remaining shrieked in terror and fled. _Boom! Boom! _The ground shook with the approaching footsteps of something very, very, very big.

"Run!" Gourry scooped Lina up in his arms and, ignoring her yowls of protest, ran for it. Looking over his shoulder, Lina saw something big and dark over the treetops, with big, gleaming yellow eyes.

* * *

A/N: Bwahahahahahahahahaha. Yet another cliffhangar. What can I say? They're fun. 

And I have an important announcement: This story has reached 50 reviews! Yay! -does dance- In honor of this, I drew a little comic based on the scene from the beginning of Chapter 13: http://www. deviantart. com /48711823/ Enjoy. And thankies to all of the people who've been reviewing -bows-

Until next time!


	19. Run Away!

**Chapter 18: Run Away!**

As the goblins swarmed the clearing, Zelgadis ran for it. His first instinct was to help fight, but he resisted that impulse. There were too many goblins, and he knew he'd just as likely just get in the way.

Judging by the shouting and spell casting coming from behind him, Gourry and Naga were somewhere behind him, fighting the creatures off.

It hurt his pride a little, to not be able to help them. _No point in worrying about it now,_ he thought, pushing it to the back of his mind.

Zelgadis glanced behind him to make sure Amelia was keeping up. To his relief, he saw she'd had the presence of mind to grab Morris' notebook, and was carrying it in her jaws. However, the bulky object was making it difficult for her to run properly.

Skidding to a halt, Zelgadis turned to help her (getting a distinct feeling of déjà vu in the process).

"Give it to me," he grunted. Grabbing the already beat up note book in his jaws, he turned and kept running.

* * *

Amelia panted. Her legs were on fire! How long had they been running? An hour? It sure felt that way. She felt about ready to collapse. _This new body of mine clearly wasn't built for long distance running,_ she thought ruefully.

"Mr. Zelgadis," she mewed, panting heavily, "I think we've run far enough."

"You're probably right." They both stopped, catching their breath.

"What… do you suppose…" Zelgadis panted, "That… was all… about?"

"We've heard reports… back at home… about villages in this area having problems… with goblins," Amelia replied. "Including some in the outskirts of Seyruun. Daddy was talking about sending in soldiers when I left."

"I see…" There was silence for a moment while they finished resting.

"I hope Miss Lina and the others are alright," Amelia mewed softly, glancing worriedly in the direction they'd come from.

"I'm sure they're fine," he replied. "They can take care of themselves." _Or at least, Gourry and Gracia can,_ he thought. He didn't say this aloud however.

Zelgadis was about to ask what they should do with the notebook when…

_Ga-ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAR!!!!!!_

Her blood went cold as they exchanged horrified looks. The trees shook with the echo's reverberation. Leaves and pine needles fell like green snow all around them. In the tree tops there was a great flapping of wings as the birds took to the sky. Animal cries could be heard from every direction as the forest creatures dashed into whatever shelter they could find.

Every one of Amelia's instincts screamed for her to do likewise, but burning curiosity quickly overpowered that urge.

She scrambled up the nearest tree, exhaustion forgotten as adrenaline pumped through he veins. Below her, she could hear Zelgadis shouting her name. She ignored him, clambering onto the highest branch.

Over the years, Amelia had learned that it was best to find out what you could about a situation before blindly charging into it. _Otherwise,_ she reasoned, _you could end up fighting for injustice by mistake._ Peering over the treetops, Amelia put this particular piece of knowledge to good use.

It wasn't difficult finding the source of the roar. Even among the trees, a large, dragon-sized creature is difficult to miss. She strained her eyes, trying to make out the details. The creature (that was the best word for it) was roughly the size of a black dragon. It certainly had wings like a dragon, but its head resembled that of a male lion. The creature's hide was all one color: black. The rest of its features Amelia couldn't make out, as most of its lower body was obscured by the trees.

The creature turned its head in her direction. Its eyes were glowing yellow. She shivered involuntarily, though the rational part of her mind knew it couldn't be looking directly.

Finished, Amelia climbed back down the tree trunk, which turned out to be harder than going up was. When she finally reached the forest floor again, she was greeted by a more-than-slightly-ticked-off Zelgadis.

"You idiot! What did you think you were doing?!" he almost shouted. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?!"

Amelia cringed. She didn't like seeing him this angry "I'm sorry Mr. Zelgadis," she mumbled, looking at her feet. "But I needed to see what was making that noise."

"You didn't have to go recklessly climbing trees! You can't cast Levitation now, remember?"

"I know that. It was the only way I could get a good look at that thing," she answered. "I'm sorry if I made you worry Mr. Zelgadis," she added softly.

He sighed, knowing he couldn't stay angry at her for very long. "It's alright Amelia. Just... next time, warn me, ok?"

She smiled and nodded, glad that he wasn't angry with her any longer.

_Crash!_

They both started. A nearby clump of bushes rustled and uttered a long string of curse words.

Amelia gave him a startled look. "It's Gracia," she said, sounding surprised. _But I thought she would be with Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry._

Sure enough, the elder Seyruun princess disentangled herself from said bushes, muttering darkly under her breath all the while. She did not seem to notice either of them.

"Stupid tree roots…"

"Gracia!" Startled, Naga looked around for the source of the loud meow she'd heard. Behind her she saw a very familiar-looking cat and wolf.

"Amelia?" She was plainly as surprised as they were.

"Amelia," Zelgadis nudged her. "Give her the notebook. We need to get that counterspell as quickly possible if we want to be able to defend ourselves against that monster-thing."

"Hmm? Oh, right." Amelia picked up the notebook and complied.

* * *

"Can you see it Lina?" Gourry hollered up at her.

"Yeah! It's a big one!" On a branch somewhere up above him, Lina watched the monster from the treetops, not unlike what Amelia had been doing earlier. Not looking away from it, she described the creature to him in detail.

While she did this, she continued to watch it. So far, it didn't appear to be doing much of anything. It just turned its head slowly back and forth, surveying the area around it. _It seems to be waiting for something… but what?_

No sooner had she thought this, it began to move. _Boom!_ Even at this distance she could hear the loud crash of its footsteps.

Down below she heard Gourry's startled shout. "What's going on Lina?!"

"Just gimme a sec Gourry!" She glanced at the creature to see which direction is going. "Let's see," she mumbled to herself, "It's headed-" she glanced at the sun- "northeast. Now what is northeast of here?" she racked her brain, thinking through the mental map of the land that had become imprinted on her mind due to years of traveling. All that was in that direction was more forest and mountains

Lina had no time to dwell on this. Suddenly the creature stopped dead in its tracks. Then it turned. She gulped.

It was headed straight for them.

* * *

A/N: Hi Earthlings! Really don't have much to say this time. Hope I've kept everyone in character. Um... yeah...

Please review! They make me happy, and I probably wouldn't have written this much if it hadn't been for you guys' comments. Seriously, if it doesn't look to me like people are liking my fic, there's not much incentive to write


	20. Three Down, One to Go

**Chapter 19: Three Down, One to Go**

Gourry frowned. When Lina didn't say anything for a while, he got worried. When she came streaking down the tree trunk in an orange blur, his worry heightened.

"Lina what hap-?"

"Never mind Gourry!" she cut him off. Gourry frowned. It was unusual for her to sound this freaked out. "You said you saw Amelia and Zelgadis take the notebook with them right before that monster showed up, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"We need to find them and Naga _now,_" she interupted him again. "That monster's heading straight for us."

Gourry didn't need telling twice. Once again, he picked up Lina in his arms and started running. This time she didn't protest. She knew that at her current size, she would never be able to keep up with him.

"Lina," he grunted, still running, "Are you sure it's coming for _us?_"

"Do you mean us specifically?" she asked. He made a noise of general assent. "Honestly, I don't really know," she confessed. "But I don't want to take my chances, especially with Morris and co. still after us. I wanna be able to defend myself just in case."

"Which is why you wanted to find Amelia and the others," Gourry concluded. "You mentioned Morris though. Do you think he's behind this somehow?"

"It's a possibility. But we can figure that part out later. Right now we need to focus on finding the others."

* * *

At the moment, the three people in question were sitting in a secluded little clearing a good distance away from the monster. They were currently working out a way to undo Morris' spell, and were having the time of their lives. If the previous sentence was read aloud, the latter half of it would be said with a great deal of sarcasm. 

"A monkey?" Sitting cross legged on the ground Naga scratched her head in a very Gourry-like manner.

Amelia sweatdropped, shook her head, and tried again.

"A giraffe?"

Looking on, Zelgadis sighed mentally. If the situation wasn't so serious, he might've thought this was funny. But it was, so he didn't. _I never thought not having other people able to understand me would make things so difficult!_

Amelia sighed after her third failed attempt to convey their theory about a possible way to counter the spell. "After this, I'm never playing charades again as long as I live," she muttered. _But I can't give up! Justice will triumph in the end! At least, I hope it will…_

Naga rubbed her temples. Having to communicate like this was making her head hurt.

Normally, none of them would have had any trouble working out a way to undo a spell like this one. A sorcerer who knew enough about the mechanics of the particular spell and about spell mechanics in general could do it without much difficulty.

But this spell was completely foreign to them. It was different from most other spells they'd seen before. Hence, their problem.

Naga glared at the notebook, half-hoping that might help somehow. Absently reading it over again, she frowned. _Wait a sec…_She read over the piece of text again. _Could it really be that simple?_

"Hey," she poked Amelia in the side. "I think I've got something." Rapidly she began to explain her idea to them.

Zelgadis eyed the magic circle in front of him warily. Although it really wasn't much more than some lines and symbols scratched in the dirt. "I don't like this," he said bluntly. "That was too simple."

"Be more optimistic for once Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia chided him. "My sister wouldn't let anything bad happen to us. Well, intentionally anyways."

_Why am I not reassured?_

"Well?" Naga tapped her foot impatiently. "Which one of you is going first?"

"I'll go," Zelgadis said resignedly.

"Mr. Zelgadis?" Amelia looked surprised, and with good reason too, considering how he'd been bad mouthing the whole thing just moments before.

"If anything goes wrong, I'd rather it happen to me than you," he explained. Amelia wasn't sure she if she should be touched by his concern for her safety or annoyed by his lack of faith in her sister.

Zelgadis stepped cautiously into the magic circle. "About time," Naga muttered, before starting to chant.

The magic circle began to glow. A great wind suddenly started blowing about, as the Laws of Dramatic Special Effects dictate that there must be wind during magical events like this one. Amelia dug her claws into the grounds to keep from being blown away.

_POP!_ Where there had been a sullen-looking grey wolf, there was now a somewhat dazed-looking chimera. Although the dazed look quickly vanished as he realized that he had no clothes on.

Face burning, Amelia ducked her head while he got dressed. _I'm glad we remembered to get our clothes, _she thought gratefully. Naga didn't seem to notice her embarrassment.

"Are you ready?" Amelia nodded, and, regaining her composure, stepped into the magical circle.

It was more or less the same as what had happened to Amelia. The circle glowed. Gusts of wind blew. There was a loud _POP! _noise. Amelia blinked, and then examined her hand, to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Then she grabbed her backside to check for tail. To her relief, she found nothing.

"Are you dressed yet?" Zelgadis (who was determinedly not looking at her) asked irritably.

"Oh, right," she mumbled, quickly complying.

"Right then," Zelgadis said as soon she'd finished, "I think our next course of action should be-"

"Well, I see you've finally rejoined the human race," came a new voice. The three of them whirled around.

"Morris," Zelgadis growled.

"Foul villain!" Amelia shouted angrily. "What do you want?!"

"Oh, I think that you should know very well what I want by this point," Morris said calmly. "The-"

"Oooooohhohohohohohoh!" He was cut off by Naga's laughter. Somehow she'd managed to get up onto a tree branch. "So, you've come to challenge me the great Naga, have you?" she laughed again.

Morris looked confused. "Who?"

Naga face-faulted, then composed herself. "Surely you've heard of the famed sorceress Naga the White Serpent?"

"I'm afraid I haven't." Naga pouted and opened her mouth to say some thing else.

"But that's really not the point her," He cut her off, turning to look back at Amelia and Zelgadis. "You see I recently acquired a new pet, and I need someone to play with him."

Zelgadis' ears pricked. Suddenly he could hear the faint booming sound of the monster footsteps. It was getting steadily louder too. He had a bad feeling about this.

"He's lonely and wants something to play with. I was hoping you might comply." Now they could all hear the sound of the beast moving as it grew closer.

"Coward!" Amelia pointed at him in an accusing manner. Zelgadis quietly drew his sword. "You're just using this thing to do your dirty work for you!"

Morris frowned. "You could put it that way I suppose…"

"Why don't you face us yourself!"

Morris snorted. "Do you really think I'm that stupid? If I did that I'd only get killed Call it cowardice if you want, but I prefer to keep living."

"Morris! One other thing!" Zelgadis called. "Why are you doing this? Isn't Lina the one you're after?"

"Yes, that is true," Morris admitted. "But I know that she hasn't regained her form yet, and sooner or later she'll come looking for you." His face darkened. "But enough with the chit chat." He cast a Levitation spell and retreated. As he went, Amelia saw him pull something out of his robe pockets.

A loud roar heralded the beast's arrival. The sorcerers last taunting words carried towards them on the wind.

"Have fun."

* * *

A/N: Hello again! Yet another chappie! Amelia and Zelgadis are finally back to normal. Except nowthey must fight Beast-sama. Morris is acting very... villain-like.

My mom's been limiting my computer access due to school related issues (evil school...) so I don't know when i'll have the next chapter up.

R&R folks!


	21. Fight!

**Chapter 20: Fight!**

Zelgadis tensed as the beast's head loomed over the trees. The beast's black lion head stared down at them, yellow eyes glowing slightly. He scrutinized it, finally able to get a good look at the thing.

The creature was clearly a chimera of some kind. Its torso and legs were that of some mammalian creature he couldn't identify, and on its back was a pair of leathery, draconic wings. Its reptilian tail was lined with spikes, with a mace-like clump of spikes at the tip.

Zelgadis narrowed his eyes. Where had Morris gotten this thing? Creating chimera's required a laboratory, especially for one of this size. Not only that, they took time to create. He wouldn't have had enough time to create this thing between now and when they last saw him…

He had no time to think on it further. _Whoosh!_ The monster swung its tail at them. They all leapt away in different directions, barely avoiding it.

"Freeze arrow!" Naga launched a spike of ice at the creature. The spike hit where the right foreleg connected to the torso, encasing that area in ice. For a moment the creature simply stood there, as having trouble processing what had just happened. Naga threw back her head triumphantly, about to laugh…

_Shatter!_ The creature flexed its leg muscles, causing the ice to shatter and fall away. This brief action provided Zelgadis the distraction he needed to get close to it. With his broadsword he slashed at one of its legs, hoping to hobble it. To his astonishment, the wound closed up as if it had never been there.

Zelgadis stared. "What the…" Even though he hadn't wounded it, the creature was still apparently ticked off, and raised one of its giant feet. Scrambling out of the way, Zelgadis narrowly avoided the fates of bugs that anger people armed with flyswatters.

"I think you made it angry," Naga remarked, as if she were noting some mildly interesting piece of trivia.

"No, really, you think so?!" he snapped.

"Please you two! This is no time to be arguing!" Amelia pleaded. As if emphasizing her point, the monster let out a feral roar and charged at them. They scattered. Hurriedly, Zelgadis began chanting under his breath. Across the clearing (created by the monster's sheer bulk flattening all the trees), he saw Naga doing the same.

"Dug haut!" He slammed his palm to the ground. All around the monster great, stone spikes sprung up from the ground. With that many spikes, the monster wouldn't be able to dodge all of them.

Or rather, _shouldn't_ be able to dodge all them. Draconic-wings flapping, the monster hovered a safe distance above the magically created stalagmites.

"Damn it, forgot about the wings," he muttered.

"Blam Blazer!" Amelia released a blue beam of light, hitting it squarely in the chest. "Got it!" she pumped her fist triumphantly as it roared in pain.

"I wouldn't celebrate just yet if I were you," Zelgadis cautioned. As he expected, the monster was not significantly hurt. But it was even angrier now.

It opened its mouth and began spewing out a strange substance with the color and consistency of glue. Whatever it was, it smelled bad- but not nearly as bad as the mysterious squishy substance from their cell at the bandit camp.

Zelgadis and Amelia both tried to jump out of the way, landing but wound up landing in the resultant puddles of goop. Disgusted, Amelia tried to move out of the puddle, except…

"My feet are stuck!" It seemed that whatever it was, the white liquid had more in common with glue than color and consistency. Amelia franticly tried yanking her feet off the ground, while off to her right, Zelgadis did the same with a Levitation spell, both to no avail. Their efforts grew more desperate as the monster started advancing on them. Then…

"Vu Raywa!" There was a deep rumbling noise. From a nearby cliff face, a great dragon golem formed from the rock. Naga laughed. Zelgadis swore he saw both the golem and the monster wince.

"Go golem!" she pointed at the monster. The dragon golem obediantly took to the air. Or at least it tried to.

"I don't think that golem's aerodynamically stable," Amelia murmured. Whether or not the golem actually flew is debatable. The best description for it is probably that it leaped off the cliff face, glided a little bit, then fell down on top of the monster.

Although the golem was now nothing more than a pile of lifeless rubble, that rubble was still enough to keep the monster distracted.

Amelia took advantage of that to cast a spell. "Aqua Create," she whispered. Water streamed from her hands, washing away the glue that held her feet like mud. Zelgadis quickly picked up on this and followed suite.

"I probably should have mentioned," Morris offhanded voice came from somewhere just outside the clearing, "That my little pet here is part Mazoku. You won't be able to hurt it with physical attacks."

"That explains a lot," Zelgadis said.

"Hmph, well if that's the case…" Amelia chanted quickly. "Assher dist!"

"Goz Vu Row!" Zelgadis launched his own spell seconds after her. The former hit the monsterr with no affect whatsoever, while the latter was dodged fairly easily.

"Dislash!" Several bolts of light shot from Naga's hand. _Whoosh!_ Once again, the monster took off into the air, while the spell passed harmlessly beneath it.

"Damn, that thing's fast," Zelgadis growled. The monster suddenly dove down towards them, claws outstretched. Once again, they were forced to duck for cover.

"Balus Rod!" Amelia's spell sliced through its side. The monster howled in pain, crashing to the ground. Slowly, it stood up again and turned face them. Evidently she had hurt it, but not mortally so.

"Demona Crystal!" Several feet of ice covered the ground surrounding the monster, effectively trapping its feet. The monster struggled against its icey bonds.

Amelia and Zelgadis exchanged looks and nodded. This was their chance. Simoultaneously they began to chant.

"_Source of all souls which dwells in the eternal and the infinite, everlasting flame of blue…_" Naga listened to the rythem of the incantation, and her eyes widened as she realized what it was they were chanting. When had Amelia learned _that_ spell?!

"Ra Tilt!" They released the spell, and the monster was engulfed in an enormous pillar of blue flames. Naga watched the light show, and had to admit she was impressed. She hadn't seen anyone do a double Ra Tilt before. _Little sister's better than I thought._

"Did it work?" Zelgadis breathed.

"It had to Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia insisted. The blue flames slowly faded away. The monster was still there, albeit badly hurt.

Naga smirked. "Looks like you gave it quite a beating."

"I wouldn't get cocky if I were you," Morris' voice came again. The creature began to glow. When the glow disapated, all signs of injury had vanished.

They gaped. "I-impossible!" Zelgadis stuttered.

"It can heal itself that quickly after an Astral attack?!" Amelia cried.

"Nice, isn't it?" Morris sounded amused. "It uses a variation on a time-reversal spell to heal itself."

"You created this thing?!" Naga said, sounding astonished.

"Sadly, I can't take the credit. I don't know who created it. I merely found the spell that allowed me to summon it from the Astral Plane." He sounded almost regretful. "I've been waiting for the right time to use it."

"It looks like," Zelgadis said quietly, "we're gonna have to take it out in one shot."

Naga frowned. "But if it could survive a double-Ra Tilt…"

"Then the only one who can do that is Miss Lina," Amelia finished, looking worried. She turned to look at Naga. "Gracia, you need to go find her and bring her back here."

"But why me-?!" Naga started to protest.

"Because you're the only one who knows the spell to turn her back to normal," Zelgadis cut her off.

She nodded, albeit reluctantly. "Fine, I'll go."

"Right then," said Amelia, "We'll keep him busy till you get back." She nodded again and disappeared into the trees.

* * *

Watching from the Astral Plane, Xellos was having the time of his life. Already things were exciting, and Lina hadn't even shown up yet! He was going to get fat from all this negative energy. 

"Well, you certainly seem to be enjoying yourself," came a low and deceptively warm female voice. Zelas Metallium appeared besides him.

Xellos bowed. "Hello Beastmaster." He offered her a handful of popcorn. "Want some?" She stared at it.

"What is it?"

"It's called popcorn, I believe. Humans like to eat it while watching plays."

She raised an eyebrow. Xellos was well known among the Mazoku for being partial to human food. "I'll pass thank you."

He shrugged and popped it into his mouth. "Suit yourself." He swallowed it. And looked thoughtful for a moment. "What brings you here Beastmaster? Do you have new orders for me?" He hoped not. He didn't want to miss the the fun that was going on right now.

She shook her head. "No, I was just checking to see what you've been up to." She surveyed the window into the human world with some amusement. "Quite a lot from the looks of things."

Xellos shook his head. "Not really, I only pointed Morris in the direction of the Cave Temples where he could find a few rather, erm, _interesting_ spells."

Zelas looked thoughtful. "Weren't Lina and her companions at the Cave Temples just recently?"

He nodded. "They were."

"You're aware of how the chimera man-" she gestured at Zelgadis- "had been turned to stone there, correct?"

"He's been stone since long before then," Xellos said innocently.

She glared at him. "You know what I mean."

Xellos grinned and nodded submissively.

"Sources have recently informed me that it was, in fact, Morris who was responsible for that." She smirked. "Ironic, isn't it?"

Xellos' lip quivered with surpressed laughter. "Yes, especially since I don't think either one of them is aware of that. Where did you hear that?"

Zelas held up one finger. "That, my priest, is a secret."

* * *

A/N: No, I haven't forgotten about Xellos being in this story. So now you know how he fits into all this. And Zelas showed up as well, but her only purpose in this story is really just to explain Xellos' role in Morris' plot. As for why Xellos is doing this... he was bored. And doing this not only is entertainment for him (as I stated), but it also creates negative emotions. As for Zelas using Xellos' catchphrase... the idea suddenly came to me that he gets that from her. 

Regarding Morris being the one who turned Zelgadis to stone... does anyone even remember that part of this fic? I couldn't just leave that bit unexplained. Reusing the Cave Temples was the easiest way to explain how Morris was able to turn them in animals and summon that monster. Considering that, it made sense that he would also be the one who turned Zelgadis to stone (another spell he found there). And Xellos was right, neither Morris nor Zelgadis are aware of this (IE: Morris doesn't know it was Zelgadis he turned to stone). Thing will probably stay that way, since I couldn't think of another good way to bring it up.

I owe a lot of thanks to the KanzakaDex for its excellent list of spells, which I was able to make good use of while writing this chapter. If you weren't amiliar with some of the spells I used, here's link to the KanzakaDex: http:// kanzaka. wikia. com/ wiki/ MainPage (Note: Insert an underscore between "Main" and "Page")

By the way, the monster in gonna get explained more fully in the next chapter.

And speaking of the next chapter... odds are, it'll be the last. -Gasps-

Please review!!!


	22. The Journey Goes Onward

**Chapter 21: The Journey Goes Onward**

"Hey, what gives?" Lina gave her protector a puzzled look. "Why are you stopping?"

"I can't hear the monster anymore," Gourry replied. Lina listened quietly and realized he was right. The sound of the monsters footfalls had vanished.

"Did we out run it?"

"I don't think so," he said, looking troubled. "We haven't been running for very long."

"Then what-"

"Shhh!" He suddenly shushed her. "Listen," he hissed. The from somewhere in the distance, the sounds of fighting reached their ears.

"I need to get a better view," she muttered. Leaping out of Gourry's arms, she scampered up a nearby out cropping of rock, Gourry close on her heels (or whatever the cat equivalent is).

Off in the distance, she could see the monster was fighting… something. Whoever its opponents were, they were too far away to make out.

A dragon golem suddenly emerged out of a cliff face near the fighting. It took flight for a few moments before colliding with the monster. Lina lost sight of both of them as they disappeared beneath the treetops. For a few moments, the forest was filled with dead silence.

There was a blinding a flash of light as a pillar of blue-white flames shot up from the spot where monster and golem had disappeared.

"Whoa!" Gourry exclaimed, sheilding his eyes with one arm, "What _was_ that?"

Lina stared, dumbfounded. "It _looked_ like a Ra Tilt, but I've never seen one that big before!" Then it clicked. "Oh, I get it."

"What Lina?"

"Remember how when we fought Copy Rezo, Zel and Amelia cast two Ra Tilts at once?"

"I think so…" he stroked his chin.

"Well, what we saw just now was the same thing," she explained.

"Oh. So that's Amelia and Zelgadis who're fighting that thing?"

"Probably. And if we're lucky, that spell will have finished it off." No sooner had she finished syaing that, the monster reemerged from the treetops, completely unharmed.

Gourry scratched his head and grinned ruefully. "I guess we're not lucky."

"No kidding," Lina muttered under her breath. "C'mon Gourry. Let's go find them."

* * *

"Astral Vine," Zelgadis whispered. His sword hummed and glowed red with infused magical energy. 

"Lafas Seed!" Amelia pointed a the monster. Glowing magical ropes appeared out of thin air, wrapping themselves around the creature's legs.

Zelgadis charged, sword at the ready, taking advantage of its immobile state. However, even though the monster's legs were trapped, Amelia had forgotten to bind its wings. Zelgadis skidded to a halt as it hovered safely above him. The monster stretched its legs, causing the ropes to snap like so much thread.

Suddenly it stopped flapping, pulling its wings close to its body. With nothing left to hold it up, it began to fall. Straight towards him.

There was no time to get out of the way, it was to close to the ground. So Zelgadis did the only thing he could think of: he launched himself upwards.

The monster, clearly not expecting this, had no time to change course. Zelgadis felt rather than saw his sword stab something soft. Judging from the monster's howl of pain, he had most likely hit a tender spot. But there was no time to celebrate. Something big and heavy slammed into his side.

"Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia's eyes widened with horror as the monster recoiled and kicked out reflexively, knocking the chimera halfway across the clearing where he hit the ground with a dull _thud._ For a moment he didn't move.

Then he sat up with a groan. She breathed a sigh of relief. _Thank goodness. _She moved to heal him, but he stopped her. "It's not that bad Amelia," he said, casting a Recovery on himself. "I'll be fine."

She redgarded him for a moment before turning to face the creature once again. "Fiend!" she shrieked, pointing angrily. "Prepare to face my Hammer of Justice!" Zelgadis rolled his eyes. Typical Amelia battle cry.

She charged at the monster, and it in turn charged out to meet her head on. "Levitation!" The spell carried her upwards over its head in a graceful arc. She flipped in midair for good measure, before casting another spell. "Burst Rondo!" Bolts of white energy rained down on it. Amelia landed less than gracefully a few feet away. But she wasn't finished.

"Dynast Bras!" A glowing red pentagram surrounded the creature as lightning rained down it. It took a moment for the smoke to clear, but Zelgadis wasn't holding his breath. If the monster could take two Ra Tilts at once and live, than it would have no problem surviving an attack like that. But he was sure Amelia knew that.

Already he could see from the rapid movement of her lips she was well into chanting another spell. _I see. So she's using the time the monster takes to heal itself to cast another spell, _he thought. Judging by the length, it would probably be something big too.

But the monster was too quick for her. Not bothering to finish it healing itself, it spewed a stream of the white liquid at her. Amelia's eyes widened. She wasn't finished chanting yet! Frantically she tried moving out of the way, but the range was was too wide. In seconds she was cocooned in white goop.

* * *

At first, finding a way to where the fighting was happening proved to be more difficult than either Lina or Gourry or expected. The part of the forest that lay between them and there was extremely thick ad filled with treacherous roots and underbrush. 

But then they had a stroke of luck. The monsters bulk and weight had cut a large swathe of flattened trees and underbrush wherever it walked.

Lina and Gourry surveyed the carnage in front of them. "And people say _I'm_ destructive," Lina muttered.

"Still, this is good, right?" Gourry commented. "I mean, now we've got clear rad leading straight to it."

"I suppose you're right," she sighed. "C'mon, let's-"

"Oooooohhohohohohohoh!" Naga laughed at them from atop a small boulder, then only unflattened object in the vicinity. "Well, it seems that once again you're in need of my help, Lina Inverse!"

"What're you talking about?!" Lina growled, her tail swishing back and forth in annoyance. Gourry relayed it to her.

Naga smirked, and help up the notebook. "I have the counterspell you want," she said, her tone gloating, "But there's no such thing as a free lunch, so I can't just _give_ it to you."

"Just get to the point Naga!" (Gourry translated again obviously).

"I'd be glad to perform it for you…. Provided you treat me to dinner of course." Naga didn't need Gourry to understand the furious hissing and spitting that was Lina's response.

"Whoa, calm Lina!" Gourry tried to restrain, and was rewarded painfully for his efforts.

"Damn you Naga!" Lina spat. "Alright, fine! I'll treat you to dinner! Just cast the damn spell already!"

As Naga made the appropriate preparations, Lina turned to her protector. "Gourry," she said quietly, "I want you to go ahead. We'll catch up to you when we're finished."

He frowned. "But Lina-"

"There's no point in you sticking around here," she cut him off. "And Zel and Amelia could probably use your help."

"Alright," he said reluctantly.

"Oh, and leave my clothes here," she added. He nodded again, and set down the cloth bundle he'd been carrying. Then he squatted down and scratched her affectionately behind the ears.

"Be careful," he said quietly.

Lina looked flustered by this sudden display of affection. "Uh, same to you too." He left.

It took a few minutes for Naga to finish preparing the magical circle. If Lina had taken the time to look at it more closely, she might have had the same doubts Zelgadis did. But she was eager to turn back to normal again, so she took no notice of it.

It took another ten minutes or so to actually perform the spell, and then for Lina to get dressed (what? Did you really think she would go into battle naked?).

When they finally finished, both she and Naga Ray Winged their way to the battlefield. Naga in the meantime brought Lina up to speed on what had been happening. "You know Lina," Naga remarked, smiling a little, "This reminds me of when we used to travel together."

Lina laughed in spite of herself. "I know. Pretty crazy times, weren't they?" The nostalgia suddenly gave her an idea as she remembered a past adventure. "Hey Naga, land for a minute, I have an idea."

"What is it Lina?" Naga touched down, looking confused. "Why are we landing?" Lina didn't answer, instead licking her finger to test the wind.

"Lina?" The sorceress in question turned and positioned her self carefully in front of Naga. A horrified expression crossed her self-proclaimed rival's face. "Wait, Lina, you aren't going to-" Too late.

"Bom Di Wind!" Naga hurtled out off sight towards the battlefield. Lina grinned. "Good luck Naga!" she hollered after her. "Try not to get killed or anything!" She cast another Ray Wing and followed.

* * *

"Amelia!" Zelgadis could only watch as she was buried completely under the white paste. He started running for her, but the monster blocked his path. He glared at it. "Damn you!" He started casting a spell, but the monster swiped its tail at him before he could finish. _Damn!_ He thought, jumping to avoid it. _If I don't get her out of there fast, she's going to suffocate! _And with no air, she wouldn't be chant spells in there either. 

The monster seemed to realize this and was make every effort to stop him. Whenever Zelgadis moved for her, it matched him to block his. He clenched his teeth in frustration. He needed to some thing fast!

"Lighting!" Zelgadis shut his eyes as he directed the flash of light at the monsters face. A howl of agony told him the spell had found its mark. Opening his eyes, Zelgadis made mad dash for Amelia.

"Aqua Create!" he aimed the jet of water at what he hoped was her head. Relief washed over him as he heard the sound of coughing and sputtering. He wasn't too late! He glanced at the monster. It was still blinking its eyes, trying to clear its vision.

"Aqua Create!" He shot another stream of water at her. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he yanked her free. "Are you alright?" he asked anxiously.

She blinked, looking disoriented. "My leg hurts…" she groaned. He glanced down. Her left leg looked broken. Suddenly her eyes widened. "Behind you!" He turned around just in time to see the monster charging them again.

His reflexes just barely saved them as he grabbed her unceremoniously and leapt out of the way.

"Get back," he told her, whirling around to face the beast again, thinking fast. The beast was currently standing between him and his sword, which lay on the other side of the clearing. Rapidly he chanted a spell. "Elmekia Flame!" Not bothering to see what effect it had, he sprinted towards his blade. Grabbing it off the ground, he hastily cast Astral Vine.

The monster charged at him again. Zelgadis simply stood there, sword poised. _Closer…_Suddenly he lunged, slashing at its leg with all his might. _That won't stop it for long, but it might slow it down for a minute._

He chanted another spell. "Astral Break!" A bolt of white energy hit the monster in the chest. It didn't even flinch. Within seconds, it had healed itself and was ready for another attack.

Zelgadis braced himself for another one of its charges. Only it never came. The monster howled with pain. As it thrashed about, Zelgadis saw that the mace-like clump of spikes on the tip of its tail had been cut off.

"You shouldn't wave that thing around," a familiar voice said nonchalantly. "Someone could get hurt."

"Mr. Gourry!" Amelia cried happily. The blond swordsman stood behind the monster, Blast Sword in hand.

"Took you long enough," Zelgadis quipped. Gourry grinned sheepishly. Suddenly they heard a high pitched shrieking sound on the wind, slowly getting closer… They all looked up. Naga landed feet-first on Zelgadis' face.

"Oooooohohohohohohoh!" Everyone, even the monster, winced. Naga, apparently not aware of what she was standing on, thrust out an arm to point at the monster. "It seems that once again you have made the foolish mistake of challenging the Great Naga!"

"Gracia! You're standing on Mr. Zelgadis' face!" If Naga heard her sister, she gave no sign of it. Nevertheless, she leapt onto the ground. Zelgadis rubbed his face.

"Ow…"

"Elmekia Lance!" The monster easily dodged her attack. It leapt into the air, and then launched itself down at them again.

"Bom Di Wind!" Zelgadis' spell managed to knock it off course, causing it to land harmlessly a few feet away.

"Hyah!" Gourry charged at it, sword drawn. It swung its tail at him, but he leapt over it like a little girl skipping rope. Gourry drove his sword deep into its wing and then yanked it out. An ordinary sword wouldn't have affected it. Luckily the Blast Sword wasn't ordinary. The monster roared and tucked the injured wing in close to its body.

Gourry rushed over to rejoin Zelgadis and Naga. "That thing's not so tough."

"Don't get over confident Gourry," Zelgadis warned. "It can heal itself."

"What?" Gourry looked startled. "It can do that?!" The monster took advantage of the distraction to take a cheap swing at them with its tail.

"Vas Grood!" The monsters tail bounced off the White Magic shield. Zelgadis glanced behind him. Amelia gave him the v for victory sign.

"So if it can heal itself, how do we beat it?" Gourry asked quietly.

"We'd probably have to kill it in one shot," Zelgadis explained.

"And since it survived two Ra Tilts at once, the only one who can do that is Miss Lina," Amelia, who was done healing herself, finished. She frowned. "Where is Miss Lina anyways?"

"After we ran into her," Gourry pointed at Naga, "she told me to go on ahead while she got un-spelled." They gave Naga a questioning glance, waiting for her to say what happened next. She never got the chance.

"GRAAA!" The monster charged at them again.

"Why does it _always_ use the same tactics over and over again?" Amelia complained as they scattered.

"Because that's what bad strategists do," Zelgadis panted, running alongside her. "They don't change their strategy as long as it keeps working."

Suddenly the monster took the air. Zelgadis and Amelia braced themselves for it to hurtle itself down at them. Only it didn't. Instead, the monster continued to rise upwards, getting smaller and smaller as it got higher and higher.

The two of them exchanged baffled looks. Had it heard them?

"Is it running away?" Gourry sounded equally confused, even for him.

"Well, let's go after it!" Naga said impatiently. "Ray Wing!" She rose into the air, Amelia and Zelgadis right behind her.

"Hey!" Gourry called out after them. "Don't leave me behind!" But they were too high up to hear him.

"Who's leaving you behind?" Gourry whirled around.

"Lina!" She grinned.

"So what've I missed?" Gourry explained it to her. She was surprised that he'd actually managed to remember that much.

"Hmmm," she looked upwards, thinking. Suddenly, Zelgadis and Amelia came plummeting out the sky. They hit the ground with a dull thud.

Lina's eye widened. "Zel! Amelia!" She and Gourry rushed over to their fallen friends. A moment later, Naga touched down next to them.

"Move over!" She shoved Lina forcefully aside, and knelt down beside them, casting a spell.

Lina was surprised. "You know Resurrection?"

"Of course. I was a Seyruun priestess too you know," was the curt reply.

_Boom!_ The monster landed with a heavy thud, ready for more.

"Well Gourry, it looks like it's up to us," Lina said, standing up.

Gourry followed suit. "It sure does Lina." For moment, neither made a move. Then, as one, they charged.

"Flare Bit!" Lina unleashed her spell, and the monster was bombarded by a volley of a dozen or so balls of light. They lost sight of the monster as it was shrouded in smoke. Lina knew the spell wouldn't hurt it more than a tickle. Luckily that wasn't her goal.

"Hah!" As the smoke began to dissipate, Gourry charged, plunging the Blast Sword into its side. The monster screeched. Gourry yanked it out and backed away quickly as Lina finished chanting her next spell.

"Dynast Bras!" Lina held her breath as the monster was enveloped in lightning. _Did it work?_ Slowly the lightning faded away. The monster was alive, and had already begun healing itself. Within seconds it was back to normal.

Lina's jaw dropped. Sure, Naga had told her it could do that, but it was one thing to hear about it from someone else and quite another to actually see it first hand. _Right than, no holding back._

If she was going to have to kill it in one shot, than her options became very limited. The Ra Tilt was supposed to be as powerful as the Dragon Slave, and since it had managed to survive a double Ra Tilt, her signature spell wasn't likely to work.

She was confident that the Ragna Blade was more than powerful enough to do the trick. But the monster was so fast, she couldn't be sure she'd be able to get a clear shot at it.

There was of course, the Giga Slave. Ok, maybe that wasn't really an option... and not just because it would be pretty serious overkill.

_But there is one other thing I could try…_

The monster began another of its Death Charges. "Gourry! Cover me!" she shouted. He nodded, charging out to meet the thing. Lina rapidly begin to chant.

"_Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows…"_

The monster lashed out its tail, Gourry jumped avoid it. He swung his sword at it, but missed as it leapt backwards.

"_By the power you and I possess! DRAGON SLAVE!" _Lina directed her spell, not at the monster, but at Gourry's sword. Gourry, who'd anticipated her moved, held out the sword as it absorbed her spell, rapidly getting sharper and sharper than he'd ever seen it before.

When it was finished, he charged at it, leaping up and slashing down with all his might. The magically sharpened blade sliced into its neck, neatly chopping off its head.

The monster's disembodied head made a gurgling noise that was supposed to be a scream, before both the head and body crumbled to dust.

Lina blinked, and then smiled. "We won."

* * *

_Later…_

Lina munched happily on her fish, glad that the trauma of the past few days was finally over. Things were already returning to normal.

"Hey Naga! That was my fish!"

"Hmph! You should've eaten it faster, Gourry!"

"Why are you stealing my fish Gourry?! I didn't steal anything from you!"

"She's scarier than you are Lina." Well, normal for _them_ anyways. Amelia shook with silent laughter.

"Just what the world needs," Zelgadis murmured, shaking his head, "Another person with a bottomless pit for a stomach." Although, he and Amelia had eaten quite a lot themselves. Fighting and being healed made you hungry.

"So Miss Lina, what are we going to do next?" Amelia asked.

"Mmmmphibibm." Amelia sweat dropped.

"Don't talk with your mouth full Miss Lina," she scolded.

Lina swallowed. "Well, first tomorrow morning, we're gonna go find that Morris creep and punish him for everything he's put us through," she said simply. "And when we've finished, we'll turn him into the proper authorities for the rewar- er, I mean, _cuz it's the right thing to do._" She coughed nervously.

"Yeah right," Zelgadis muttered under his breath. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Then, we'll go find his bandit cronies and punish them as well," she continued, pretending she hadn't heard him.

"And after that?" Amelia prompted.

Lina shrugged. "Hadn't thought that far ahead."

"We were on our way to Seyruun before this all started," Zelgadis pointed out. "I don't see any reason why we shouldn't keep going there when we're finished here."

Lina glanced at Naga. "What about you Naga?"

The sorceress shrugged. "I'll think about it." She smirked. "But don't forget Lina, you said you'd treat me to dinner when this was over!"

Gourry snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah! She said the same for me too!"

Lina put on her best innocent face. "Huh? What're you talking about? You guys said you'd each treat _me_ to dinner."

"Oh no, you're not fooling me this time Lina!"

Zelgadis and Amelia looked on and sweatdropped. "They haven't changed a bit…"

* * *

_The next day..._

"Say Bob, what do you think that noise is?"

"Not sure, Joe. Sounds like someone screaming 'mercy.'" The two men stopped to listen. Somewhere in the distance they heard a faint shout.

"Dragon Slave!"

* * *

A/N: ... did I really just finish this? Wow... -Dazed look- So, yes folks, after four months of writing this is the last chapter of Journeys. -Sniff- 

This last chapter was much longer than the rest. What can I say? Writing the battle scenes was a lot of fun, and I got kind of carried away. And FYI, what Bob and Joe were hearing in the last scene was Lina and co. punishing Morris and his cronies.

Alright, I owe a lot of thanks to the KanzakaDex. That site's information on spells was really helpful for writing the battle scenes. Same to the people who contribute to it for answering my questions about the Blast Sword (I proably got some of the details wrong anyways though. Sorry!).

And of course, there's my reviewers. You guys are awesome! And even if you haven't been reviewing, you're still awesome for liking this fic enough to read it to the end!

As for future works... I've actually started writing up the first chapter of another (also Slayers) fic. I'm want to write up a few chapters before posting it here though. Chances are you'll see it within the next week or two.

Until next time, and thank you!


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